Jane Austen Madness

Where else should you study Jane Austen besides Bath and Lyme Regis, the setting of her novel "Persuasion"?

The first view of Bath was breathtaking as we rode in on the bus. The sun reflected golden off the hilly green countryside, divided into crooked squares by hedges and stiles. Bath is nestled deep in a valley between rolling hills, the cathedral and church spires rising up over the rooftops of the town. Our group stayed in the youth hostel outside of town, and to get into town, we had to take a trail that overlooked the whole city and the hills around it. Beautiful.

Bath is the site of a natural hot springs, and the Romans flocked here to swim in the waters and drink the mineral water which supposedly brought good health. In Jane Austen's time, Bath was a place for the rich and famous to see and be seen.

We took a tour of the city itself and saw the same sights Austen saw. The next day was our luxury day. First, we toured the historical Roman baths. Next, we had a lunch in The Pump Room restaurant, which was fancy and served great food. Some of us "took the waters"--i.e. drank the mineral water from the spring. It was warm and metallic--I couldn't finish the whole glass. From there, we moved on to the Thermae Spa and bathed like the Romans did (with modern conveniences of course) in the most amazing rooftop, poolsized hot tub. Watched the sunset over the rooftops of the town. So memorable.

We took the bus toward Lyme Regis, where I got my own room in the luxury Alexandra Hotel. The town is built on the steep hill leading down to the ocean. The weather was windy and wavy. We acted out a scene from "Persuasion" on the cobb, which is a tall stone breakwater around the marina. We only stayed for a few days. Oh, and had breakfast with the drummer from the Rolling Stones. Encounters with fame.

Canterbury to Stratford Upon Avon

We left Saloman's and went to Canterbury. We were fortunate enough to have stayed within the cathedral precincts and have complete access to the Cathedral pretty much whenever we wanted. It was amazing to look out the window and see this ancient Cathedral glowing orange in the light of the moon. People have been coming to Canterbury for over 1500 years to worship God--it is a place of pilgrimage. I did my best to feel the history, imagine the different people walking and riding hundreds of miles to worship at this exact spot. Sometimes, it is hard to really grasp things like that.

We then headed to Oxford to tour the college of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, and Lewis Carroll. The colleges and town were beautiful, and we had a wonderful tour of the city despite the bone chilling cold.

Arriving in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the town of William Shakespeare's birth, I could tell right away that the place goes all out for it's most famous son. Throughout our time there, we walked by the As You Like It Cafe which served "William's Shakes", ate at a cafe termed "The Food of Love", shook our heads at Romeo and Juliet's "adult" shop. While there, we had a packed schedule of events at the Shakespeare Center in town. We got to have several discussions on the play "Twelfth Night" which the Royal Shakespeare Company was putting on at the time. We got to see the show not once, but twice, which was phenominal. Afterward we had a question and answer time with one of the main actors. We took an amusing stage combat class. It was a rewarding week, filled with more amazing theater experiences and the chance to delve into Shakespeare texts.

All these towns had taken on the look of the season and we decked out for Christmas. With a month left before home was on the horizon, for the first time I started looking towards the end of the trip and looking forward to celebrating Christmas at home with family.