Monday, February 15, 2010

Snapshot Monday: Beautiful Bath!

First of all - thank you to everyone who attended my talk at the Blockhouse Bay Library yesterday. I had a wonderful time chatting with you all! A special shout-out to Kerry, who comments on the blog - lovely to meet you in person :)

Onto today's photos!

I only spent a short time in Bath while I was in the U.K. but I thought it was a gorgeous city, one I definitely want to return to and explore more fully.



Above and below are pictures of a "circus" - the circular buildings that are so much a part of Bath. When I saw this, all I could think of were the final scenes in the recent movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion (with Rupert Penry-Jones and Sally Hawkins). My in-love-with-Austen-heart gave a big sigh.

As an aside, though my love for Pride and Prejudice remains steadfast, I think the quieter Persuasion might be my favorite Austen novel.


Below is a picture looking out toward the city from the top level of the Roman Baths. See all the centurions lined up on the edges?


Looking down into the Great Bath. Spot the monk!


I believe the shot below is of the Sacred Spring, which is really, really, really hot.


A picture of one of the many beautiful buildings in Bath.

And this little guy just tickled me! I thought it was brilliant that the city was showcasing modern artwork against the ancient background.


Hope you enjoyed the cyber-tour of Bath!

p.s. I was shocked, SHOCKED, to realize I had no "Jane Austen" tag on the blog. That has now been rectified!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can never decide if Persuasion or P&P is my favorite Austen novel. Beautiful pictures, btw! Thanks for sharing!!

ps. Are we going to have another Q&A soon? I love those. Or will it be after the next Psy-Changeling novel?

Nalini Singh said...

I'll probably hold a Q&A a bit later on. I usually need to clear a few days so I can catch all the questions.

Kerry said...

Thank you, Nalini. It was lovely to meet you too. Your talk was excellent and it was great to chat a bit afterwards.

I love those circular buildings. They just look so amazing. Do you (or anyone) know if they are square or curved inside the rooms?

It's Persuasion all the time for me. P&P is excellent, but I just love Anne and Captain Wentworth. I sometimes wonder if growing older has been a factor in my developing love for Persuasion, as it is lovely to have an older heroine. Besides, Anne is just plain cool.

Ness said...

Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful images of Bath.

I absolutely adore Jane Austen, and studied her work at Uni. My all time favourite would still have to be Northanger Abbey. I can still remember reading it in a corner of the university quad and thinking how so much of it was still relevant.

I was thinking about what you said yesterday at Blockhouse Bay library, about your English teacher being mortified that you were reading a romance novel in class. I actually used to read in our math class; suffice to say I failed maths.

:)

Anonymous said...

Nice one Nari chan
Thanks for sharing.

Kerry said...

Talking of reading in class...

I vividly remember once reading under the desk in a Chemistry lecture at university. Since there were only 16 of us in the class, it was a stupid thing to do, but I really wanted to find out what happened next.

At one point, the lecturer stopped, looked at me and asked if I was enjoying my book.

I was mortified. And I've never forgotten.

Unknown said...

Bath is a lovely city! Havent been there in YEARS!! Last time I was there was a English soccor match on. The UK were playing someone. Anyhow I was off doing sneaky shopping and they started to riot! OMG it was so funny! These boys think they can fight? I felt like saying to them I grew up in Belfast and they are children compared to those boys! hahahahaahaaaa!

Anonymous said...

Monks and baths... seems there is still an attraction *g*. (I know, I know... it`s mean. But I couldn`t resist. I once read a very funny scene about that in an historical novel).

Thank you for sharing this beautiful pictures Nalini.

Unknown said...

Nalini you made me cry with your pictures! I just finished my student-exchange in Bath and there it was, a picture with the building opposite to my bus station! I miss it so much and want to go back! Thanks for the pictures, your camera is better than mine!

marie3of3 said...

Great pictures! It's been years since I've been there and it still looks the same...Though it appears that the weather was better for you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the pictures. I'm going to the British Isles on a trip this summer with my family. We will have just 2 1/2 days in London. I'm trying to figure out how to spend time in Bath. These photos just convince me that we really need to get there.

Asana said...

I remember that memorable scene in Persuasion when Anne and the Captain see each other for the first time in many years, and her nephews are hanging onto her and refusing to let go. How awkward and intense when the Captain has to pull them off her!

I thought that I would be a Mr.Darcy girl forever, but BBC's North and South was actually darker than P&P. I loved how Mr.Thornton lost everything as a child and taught himself self-denial and had such strength and emotional power. Swoons.

Nalini Singh said...

Kerry - hmm, I don't know the answer to that! I would love to though.

Vanessa, hi! It was great to chat to you on Sunday :)

(Am loving all these stories of clandestine romance reading).

Julia - let me know if you want a bigger copy of the image.

Eva / Crazy Legz / Anon - glad you enjoyed the photos!

Marie - the weather was just brilliant 95% of the time I was in the UK, which I'm told is very unusual.

Patty - I think you'll really enjoy it if you're able to go.

Aasana - I love North & South, too. LOVE!

CrankyOtter said...

Just ran across this picture link of Carnival and lots of the pictures made me think of Archangel's Kiss, which I'm reading right now.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/carnival_2010.html

Well, the skiing Batmans, not so much. But I think you'll see what I mean if you check these out.

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