only 40 miles from Bristol. I lived in Bristol for one year, and I managed to get to Bath one afternoon, late, in May when my folks were here. I really didn't do the city justice for their visit. Aside from the Georgian architec
ture, Roman history, and mineral springs ... it is an amazing city. Absolutely gorgeous. Busy. Easily reached from the likes of London-ers for a day, and thus it is frequently busy with one event or another. My neighbors in Bristol were always amazed that we didn't get the same tourist traffic in Bristol, only 13 minutes further up the train tracks. To me, it is easy. Bath wants visitors. Bristol wanted residents.So there is a bit of a European tradition to visit Christmas villages whilst getting ready for Christmas. Their origin is Germany, but the villages are a part of getting ready for
the holidays.It's like going to a summer arts or crafts fair. The only difference being that the vendors are in small wooden chalets for their booths. It is interesting how this limits the number of potential customers a booth-minder can manage. If you intend to purchase something, you really need to be patient to catch the attention of the chalet-keeper.
Bath has their Christmas village surrounding the baths and the Cathedral. I think the village surrounding the cathedral is a normal thing. Makes sense that the church would have some role in sponsoring a Christmas sale / fund-raiser, I think.
The nice thing about Bath is that it has a "proper shopping district" in the centre of town. This was something that I really missed whilst I lived in Bristol. The high street finally opened a modern facility on
e month before I moved away. Anyway, it is possible that you could come down to the high street and achieve a major part of your Christmas shopping list.
It had the usual suspects. There were street entertainers looking for spare change for doing odd entertainment things ... like this guy who set up a tight [sort of] rope and balance on it whilst playing the fiddle. [I say "fiddle" because what he was playing would not be considered classical or violin-like.]
Of course, like any fair, there is food. I had a sausage [bratwurst] and a mulled wine [warm red wine with spices, such as allspice and cinnamon]. All very good. And I think you can tell that the weather cooperated. It is so much nicer this year.
2008 was an unprecedented year for rain in the UK. Something like once in a 100 years! I can take the cold and the wind, as long as there is a break from the rain. I realise that I experience the weather here like Seattle, but last year ... Wow! My toes have webs between them! It really was a nice day.
