We Heart Jane Austen (Bath)

English Countryside - Day 2 & 3: Bath deserves it's own separate post. We reached Bath on Friday evening, when everything was pretty much closed shop so we walked around to get our bearings. We saw the Royal Crescent, a half-moon shaped row of town homes that are a signature feature of Bath, and more importantly, where a few pivotal scenes of Persuasion were filmed, which Fariha and Fasiha decided to reenact (yes, it is on film).

The next morning, we raced to see the Roman Baths and the Jane Austen Centre. The Roman Baths were incredible. Located modestly on the side of a high-traffic street, the baths are over two thousand years old and continue to flow. Legend was that the son of a king, who had leprosy, was cured after dipping into the waters. Since then, the Romans, and then centuries later, the British royalty and upper class partook of the waters to cure sicknesses, such as rheumatism. The remnants of the baths are age-worn but still give you a clear glimpse of how the Romans lived at the time. The pictures speak for themselves, this has got to be one of our most favorite spots of this trip.

With only an hour and half left before we had to head out, we rushed to the Jane Austen Centre and officially geeked out. We bought a lot of paraphenalia, took a tour and spent an inordinant amount of time on every random, inconsequential and significant artifact of Jane Austen's history. And left pretty sad -- suffice to say, if you know how her life ended, you would be too. Jane Austen and the both of us had a MOMENT.

Bath was our favorite stop on our English countryside trip.