Mr. Darcy Goes to Hogwarts

Writing this blog isn’t as fun when its done at JFK while on a 5 hour layover, but at least it reminds me of happier times.

When Kevin and I discussed what to do on our last full day in Bath, I came up with the idea of going to the Jane Austen Center – a museum about Jane’s life during the time she lived in Bath.  Surprisingly enough, Kevin wasn’t keen on this idea, and instead mentioned going to Bath Abbey.  We debated what to do during breakfast and finally decided to head down to town and figure it out when we got there.  However, the weather was really uncooperative towards a walk around town.  It was sunny for literally 2 minutes and then would pour for 10 followed by a short period of sun and more downpours.  Every time it started to pour, we tried to duck into a shop in the outdoor shopping center located on the outskirts of town center.  Kevin wanted a new pair of Pumas, which are hard to come by in England and I just wanted an object.  Neither of us wound up finding anything, but at least it kept us dry.  Eventually, we wound up near the abbey, but I vetoed the idea since I wanted to be able to take pictures and I couldn’t do so in the rain.  Instead, I cleverly re-directed us to the Jane Austen Center. I found out after the fact that Kevin was trying to stall me until after lunch so that he could go to the pub instead, but I didn’t really catch on to this.  He was, nevertheless, a good sport.

Like almost all females, I love Jane Austen.  I just can’t get enough of her romance stories set amongst the gentry in the time in which she lived.  Jane Austen spent a great deal of time in Bath, having an aunt who lived there and living there herself for 4 years and thus Bath is featured heavily in her stories.  Two of her books (coincidentally her first and last) were set in Bath and several other stories make mention of it.  The museum, located in a Georgian house on Gay Street much like the house just up the road that Jane lived in, focuses on the history of Bath during the 4 years she lived there, and how Bath influenced her writing.  For me, it was a fascinating look into Jane Austen’s life.  Kevin, I’m sure, was extremely bored, but he at least pretended to look at everything and even waited for the 10 minutes it took me to decide what Mr. Darcy inspired treasures to purchase for myself and Katie from the gift shop.  The only time he really started to loose his cool was when  I couldn’t contain my love for the painting of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy that they had hanging on the wall.

 

After I had my fill of Jane Austen history and the delicious Mr. Darcy, we decided to grab a bite to eat at the Tea Shop located on the top floor of the museum.  I of course had the cream tea, which to me is the most delicious thing on the planet – even more so than goat cheese, pasta or chocolate.  Their scones were warm right from the oven and the tea (a blend based on what people of the Georgian period would have drank) was perfect. As I was extolling the virtues of cream tea to Kevin, I came up with a brilliant plan – a party involving scones, tea and viewing of Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version of course).  Kevin seemed to think this the most ridiculous idea I have ever come up with (shocking I know).  He seemed to think that the only person who lived close enough to come that would show up would be my dear friend Katie (Mini Deal and Sharon living too far away to attend).  He did laugh when I retorted with “ All you need for a good party is Katie anyway!”

After tea, I released Kevin from his torture and we headed over to Bath Abbey.  The last great Abbey built in England, it is not nearly as grand at Westminster or York, but I wouldn’t expect it to be as Bath wasn’t nearly on the same level of ecclesiastic power  that York and Westminster were.  However, it was still an impressive site.  The abbey also offered a guided tour up the tower, which we decided to check out (by we I mean Kevin.  I hate heights and steep narrow spiral staircases that are so predominate in abbeys and castles throughout England.  However, since he was such a good sport about the Jane Austen museum, I decided to tough it out).  The climb wasn’t nearly as bad as some other places I have been in throughout the past year, but it was still not my cup of tea.  However, it was worth it for the explanation of all the different ways that the bells have been rung over the years.  Plus, the look on Kevin’s face when the tour guide let him ring one of the big church bells was priceless.  Not surprising, I refused to  look off the top of the tower, but Kevin was nice enough to take pictures for me.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the Abbey checked of our list of things to do, we were out of things in Bath that we had planned on accomplishing during our two days there.  We decided to head to the town of Lacock (go ahead, laugh at the name.  Kevin did.) which is located a mere 14 miles from Bath.  Lacock is a village owned almost entirely by the National Trust since 1944 and is a great example of 18th century architecture. Because the town has remained mostly unchanged since the 1800s (there aren’t even any visible phone lines or street lights in town), it has become a favorite filming location.  Most notably for myself, the village served as Meryton in my much loved BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and  Lacock Abbey was used as Hogwarts in three Harry Potter movies.

Since we were nearing closing time of the abbey, we headed there first to try and identify the areas used in Harry Potter.  The abbey itself was first established in 1232 and retains much of the medieval parts of the abbey.  Its easy to see why filmmakers chose it as the setting of Hogwarts.  Right away, I found my first Harry Potter backdrop in the courtyard just inside the door.  Appearing in numerous forms in the first two Harry Potter movies, the grassy courtyard is probably best known for the snowy scene, which I managed to find a picture of. 

 

Up next, the hallways around the courtyard, used the hallway outside Dumbledore’s office.

 

A little more ornate in the film and crowded with students, but still recognizable to a super fan like myself.

Several of the rooms off the corridors were used as various classrooms in the first two Harry Potter films

 

Professor Quirrel’s classroom.  Interestingly enough, the cauldron was already in the room.

 

Professor McGonnagall’s room

 

Professor Snape’s Potion Room

Filming returned to Lacock with the filming of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Lacock Abbey was used once again.  However, the village of Lacock featured in this film as well, being the fictional village where Harry and Dumbledore find Horace Slughorn.

 

Not only has Harry and Dumbledore visited Lacock, but the Bennett sisters as well.

Lacock is a quaint little town, and even minus its association with two of my loves (Mr. Darcy and Harry Potter), its well worth a trip.  It’s easy to picture the streets bustling with a giggling Lydia Bennett, a parade of soldiers or men on horses.

Bath Time

Since Kevin was so kind as to take me to not only one but two Pemberleys on our way down south, I decided to be kind and not force any Jane Austen stuff on him for our first full day in Bath.  Instead, we decided to take in a little history by visiting the Roman Baths Museum.  But first, we took a walk through the city up to the famed Royal Crescent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Royal Crescent is a series of 30 Georgian row houses built in the late 1700s by John Woods.  However, Kevin read somewhere  that Woods only designed the front and thus each house is different from the back and are varying sizes, which I find really interesting.  Also, the development was initially called The Crescent, but gained its Royal moniker after it housed Prince Frederick, the Duke of Albany and York.  

 

 

After we were done checking out the lives of the rich and famous, we headed down to the Roman Baths museum.   Underneath the city of Bath lies a network of aquifers which are heated by a geothermal fissure to a temperature of 46 ° C at the surface.  The spring was discovered by the Celts in 836 BC and dedicated to their god Sulis (their equivalent of Athena/Minerva).  When the Romans came to town in 60-70 AD, they built a temple honoring the Goddess Minerva and spent the next 300 years building and developing a bath complex around the spring.   When the Romans were driven out in the 5th century AD, the Baths gradually fell into disrepair and were covered up.  In the 12th and 16th centuries, Baths were built upon the old Roman ruins until the site was finally abandoned.

  

Today, the baths are part of an elaborate museum detailing the lives of the Romans at the height of the Roman Baths popularity as well as the technology behind the functioning of the baths.  I found the vast number of different rooms fascinating.  The Romans built elaborate steam rooms by building up the floor and heating the water under the floor with a furnace to create steam.  Additionally, they had cold and warm rooms along with the baths at their natural 46 °C temperature.  I was however disturbed that they lined all the pools with lead to keep the water from leaking out.   I have visions of the Romans growing gills or third arms due to lead poisoning.  I will however give them credit for their engineering as many of the things they built are still functioning today, including the lead lining on the pools and the overflow drain.

The still functioning overflow drain

After we checked out how the Romans did a Spa Day, we decided to check out how a modern person in Bath does the spa, we headed over to Thermae Bath Spa.  Opened in 2006, it was the first spa in Bath since 1978 and the only natural thermal spa in England.   The spa is a  massive complex consisting of 4 floors with a different attraction on each :  indoor thermal pool, a massage suit, 4 different steam rooms with different aromatic scents and a rooftop thermal pool with a view of the city.    They sell time in the spa in 2 hour increments as long as traditional spa services such as massages and facials.  Since I’d never say no to a massage and Kevin loves getting his back rubbed/scratched (he’s constantly harassing me to scratch his back), we decided to also get a massage while we were there. 

 

The spa was a fun was to spend a few hours, but I’m not sure how people spend more than 2 hours there as Kev and I had just about had enough of the pools and steam room when we left.  But how often does one get a chance to relax in a natural thermal pool?  To top off a day filled with my favorite things – history, spas,  massages and not having to scratch Kevin’s back - we had Indian for dinner.  I’m glad that England took over India as a colony as it developed their love of delicious Indian food, a love that I definitely share.

That pile of rocks

In all my excitement over sharing Hampton Court with our readers, I totally forgot about the rest of our day.  When we left Hampton Court to head for Bath, we passed right by Stonehenge, and figured we would stop and have a look around.  Initially, I was going to forgo a visit as I’ve heard that all the bloody tourists ruin the experience, but we did literally pass right by it (seriously, the motorway runs right next to it), so I figured we could have a look around. 

bloody tourists!

   

When we pulled up, I certainly feared that the tourists were going to be too much for me.  They were crawling all over like ants on a piece of candy.  Apparently, Stonehenge is on some master list of sites in England for Japanese tourists.  It looked like an invasion.  I’d like to think that the citizens of Oxford thought they were in Japan earlier on in the day since about 90% of them were wearing some article of clothing with the words OXFORD written on it.

Also,  the entry price was a bit extreme, but luckily we are members of English Heritage and neither had to pay the 7 pounds a piece nor wait in line with all the invaders and their cameras.   Luckily, the space around the actual site was wide enough to get around all the other tourists.  Also, they had the area around the actual site blocked off (too many idiot tourists climbing on and graffiting it) so you could easily get photos without random people in them.  This is my pet peeve and I will wait 10 minutes for a site to be clear of people when taking pictures.  It drives Kevin nuts but makes for better photos.

Hurray!  No tourists in my photo

In all, we spent about 10 minutes looking around (which is why the entry price is so ridiculous) before setting off for Bath once again.

 

We got into town just in time for dinner.  I am a huge foodie and also love Jamie Oliver so I was very excited that he had just opened a restaurant in Bath – Jamie’s Italian.  Jamie is a huge proponent of locally sourced fresh ingredients and good food at reasonable prices.  And good and reasonable it was.  We decided to start with bruschetta topped with fresh ricotta, heirloom tomatoes and basil which was delicious.  Kevin had a delicious Bucatini Carbonara, which featured tubular, hollow spaghetti type noodles with smoked pancetta, courgettes and parmesan.  After hearing that they had a special of squash risotto, I had to have that as it is one of my favorite dishes.  It certainly didn’t disappoint.  The squash was full of flavor, the risotto a perfect texture and seasoned with just the right amount of sage.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We topped off our meals with a lemon polenta cake (me) and tiramisu (Kev).  The polenta cake was glorious and I am going to make it my mission to replicate it when I get home.  In all, a fabulous meal, but lets face it – it would have to be.

I’m Henry VIII I am, I am

If our friends and family hadn’t guessed by now, I’m a  huge fan of  Henry VIII.  I find his about face behavior and appearance  from a jovial, well liked and svelte young man to an old and crotchety  big fat fatty fascinating.  Therefore, it only made sense to visit his former palace Hampton Court while in Surrey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Hampton Court started its days as a country showpiece for Henry VIII’s advisor Cardinal Wolsey, it came into Henry’s hands due to his rage at Wolsey for failing to gain him a divorce from his first wife.   In true Henry VIII form, he appropriated the house for himself, gifting it to his new wife Anne Boleyn.  He remodeled the palace for his young bride,  making it more grand and ostentatious than Wolsey’s former home, only to have to redo the H + A monographs throughout the palace to H+J with the beheading of his second wife and new marriage.  It became a favorite summer home of the court, who liked to escape the heat of London for the summer months and enjoy the gardens, and stocked hunting grounds at Hampton Court.  It remained a favorite retreat for the royal family until the mid 1800s.  The length of time that Hampton Court spent in the royal eye can be seen in the differing periods of architecture throughout – from the brownstone Tudor Buildings to the red and white grand palace style of the mid 1700s.

Old meets less old

The grounds themselves also show a mixture of styles, with natural looking gardens, sculpture gardens and highly structured Georgian gardens.  Since I am the daughter of Brenda Deal, I spent a large amount of time wandering through the gardens and taking photos.  In the span of the two hours we checked out the garden, I got ideas and plans for several new garden designs in my own yard (which I’m sure Kevin is thrilled about).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps the coolest part of the gardens, for the wine-lover that I am, was the grape vine housed in the greenhouse.  Certified by Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest grape vine in the world.  Planted in 1768 by Capability Brown, the vine is a cutting of a Black Hamburg vine from Essex that no longer exists.

Sadly for wineauxs like myself, the grapes aren’t actually used to make booze, but instead are sold to tourists at a huge markup each fall. 

 

The palace itself housed several different exhibits, from the architectural history of the estate to Henry VIII to the Georgian life of the inhabitants. 

 

In all, Hampton Court is easily a full day trip for the garden/history enthusiast like myself.  It even held an interest for Kevin, with a maze, Henry VIII era Royal Tennis Courts and a pair of Clydesdales.