New Year Day in Bath

Back to the city center, looking across this historical town, walking into the crowd; I took the tempo of city Bath to celebrate the New Year day.

I got up early on New Year's Day, planning a walking tour in the Bath to learn its historic architectures, cultural heritages, picturesque gardens and city bridges. At about 7 am in the morning, it’s still dark outside, only the street lights were lit, reflecting in the river Avon, creating illumination on the walls of architectural buildings. The moon came in and out of the clouds with its charm. 

The New Year is coming already, but the historic city of Bath hasn’t woken up yet. Almost all stores are closed in the early New Year's day, but there are staff working inside a few shops. That means they might open later today. The only coffee shop opening in the early morning is Gregg, which sells drinks and desserts. A few chain restaurants, cafes, supermarkets would open after ten am. The train station and bus station are also not open today, I didn’t see any local buses passé through, but the screen at the bus shops still displays some information. When would this tourist city start waking up completely?

Pulteney Bridge across the Avon River: I walked on the Pulteney Bridge, listening to the tides riding up and down; watching birds flying around, a few pedestrians strolling over in the quiet streets. There are no swans and gulls in the Avon river to cheer us up this morning. It seems two water streams merge, so waves are more turbulent and the water gets stirred up, not so calm and clean to keep the birds safe here.

After that I walked through the “quiet street.” It’s indeed quiet in the new year morning. Bath is like a little Italy with a lot of historic architecture. I passed through the Roman bath building and Bath Abbey architecture and then, I walked further on the Pulteney bridge towards North Parade and captured the great views. The sunlight brightened the morning. There are more people and cars running in the streets. Bath starts waking up and the Avon river flows forward endlessly.

Jane Austen Center: I walked around the city center, passed through the small green garden, had my breakfast I bought yesterday, fed a few birds as well and then headed to Jane Austen Center, which is a small modest town house with Jane’s portrait on the window. I knew it wasn’t open during winter break. But every September, there are parades and activities to remember the author of “Persuasion,” “Pride and Prejudice, “Sense and Sensibility,” etc. carrying on her heritage “We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.” -Jane Austen

Botanic Garden and Royal Victoria Garden: A few more shops opened. I sat in a Pret coffee shop to sip my English breakfast tea, using Wi-Fi to navigate how to get to the city parks. It's in the same direction as the Jane Austen center. I should have gone further in the early morning, but I missed it.

So I need to go up hills again, and walk further to reach the higher horizon with green landscape-the Victoria royal garden and the botanical garden. Half an hour of walking later, ultimately, a great park unfolded in front of me with a grandeur architectural crescent. The garden looks fresh, spacious, and colorful even in the winter season. The trees grow very strongly and green meadows soak with morning frost and look fresh under sunshine.

Well-trained pets: I stood up at the corner, watching over the fantastic landscape and ate the hot fresh snack I bought in the local bakery. There are middle-aged couples with their big doggies coming down to the roads. Perhaps dogs smelled my bakery and followed me around very closely; made me a bit nervous. Should I share my snack with them, are they nice pets? The owners stopped them and asked the dogs to leave me alone and run forward with them.

In Europe, pets are well trained and they have discipline to be well behaved. A few days ago in a London’s park, I also saw the dogs sitting down politely when they saw other dogs coming over; and hugging their pals in a good manner, like ladies and gentlemen do. I saw gulls, swans flying synchronously on the shore, it seems they received some special signals. Obviously, there are masters behind the scenes. That is the civilized society.

Shakespeare memorial and a family park: Going even deeper, I came to the botanical garden. That is a bigger park with different trees and groves, wood sculptures, cursive paths and coffee stalls. There is a Shakespeare memorial and a family park inside. People of all ages came to exercise or had outdoor activities to refresh themselves on New Year day.

After going down to the hill and heading back to the city center, it is already afternoon; and about ten percent of stores have been open since noon. It seems more tourists came into town. I wandered around in the city for a while, and was a bit exhausted. It started raining again in the afternoon. I had pan thai vegetable noodle soup in a small restaurant to charge up and hang around in the rain to capture more unique scenes.

If the early morning walk across the bridge tested my courage to break through the darkness, then visiting the Jane Austen center kept me track of the footprints of European authors in history; the garden tours made me calm and fulfilled inside with renewed energy. Back to the city center, looking across this historical town, walking into the crowd; I took the tempo of city Bath to celebrate the New Year day.

Posted in: Food for Thought,Global Trips