Bath Abstracts

And so to Bath for a jauntette with Dru, and our hitherto virtual friend Chrissy, who is over on holiday from New Zealand. And a lovely day we had for it too. 

Having met Chrissy and her mum Peg, and daughter Pretoria, at the railway station, we headed immediately for what is already (on my second visit there) my favourite cafe in Bath, at Chapel Arts Gallery. Then we paused at the Abbey, with its brilliant Jacob's Ladder ... 

... before making for the nearby Roman Baths.

 

Stele or gravestone showing a dog chasing a hare  

Three mother goddesses

Chrissy and Pretoria with the head of Sulis Minerva

  

Then a walk over Pulteney Bridge to the Holburne, where we had lunch in the cafe. Dru spotted a peregrine flying over. She says a pair nest on the Abbey. 

I only managed to get a photo of a seagull.

Having crossed Sydney Gardens we reached the Kennet and Avon, where we ambled under footbridges painted by John Nash. 

Wandering back through town, we stopped at the vintage clothing shop on Walcot Street. Peg bought herself a red Burberry which suited her perfectly. 

And then with a stop at the wholefood shop ... 

... and a pause by Alyson Hallett's poem on Milsom Street and a flock of siskin in a tree outside Waitrose ...

... we were just about done.

Always good when you meet people you first encountered online in real life and they turn out to be as interesting and amiable as you suspected. It was a contented drive home to Bristol.