It's a big place, Bath . . .

Saturday ---

After a very English breakfast of toast with butter an orange marmalade, I went out walking again. This time I went to the Saturday flea market that was held on the next street, where I bought a couple of books for a pound-- that was a really neat experience. Then I walked over to the Assembly Rooms, (yes, they're still there!), where they have a fashion museum that I've been dying to go to for years. It just so happened that all this summer they have a special exhibit-- costumes from Jane Austen movies next to real fashions from the period. (I can see all you girls turning green!)

But before I got down to the museum, I saw the assembly rooms themselves. They've been restored, after a WWII bomb, to their original condition in the early 1800s. They are absolutely beautiful. You could just see the balls and concerts. Each of the rooms (The ball-room, the card/concert room, the tea room) is painted in a light color (green and yellow and such) with white trim in a classical style-- just beautiful. They were preparing for a wedding in the concert room; I won't even let myself dream about that!

Then downstairs is the museum-- literally racks full of dresses from the 1600s on. Some of them were displayed on lifelike mannequins-- it was just amazing to see! and to think that they were all made by hand! All that exquisite embroidery! All those details! Beautiful clothes. (Why can't we wear stuff like that?)

And then there was the Jane Austen exhibit. Wow. I actually saw Lizzie's red dress from the long P&P-- it was standing in the middle of the room, not even behind glass. (That's always been my favorite dress!) And I saw Emma's dress from the picnic scene (white, with the green bow), and Elizabeth's and Mrs. Clay's dresses from the teashop scene in Persuasion-- remember Elizabeth's orange jacket and tall hat? And there were Elinor and Marianne's coats from S&S . . . it was so much fun. And, of course, there was Mr Darcy's green coat-- but not the shirt he went swimming in. It was great. I was so glad it was on while I was there! I bought a book in the shop, all about the names Jane Austen uses in her novels . . . it's kind of a weird subject, but it's always interested me.

I've got to hurry now, time is ticking away. But there are so many more things to say! I had lunch (a Williamsburg lunch of 27-pence bread and English cheddar cheese and water bottled in Scotland) in the Parade Gardens. Bath really knows how to do a park. And I walked around town some more, even went to Bond street (where I did not count 87 women, though I probably could have-- British women are not remarkably pretty.) We went to dinner at the Wife of Bath restaurant, where I had the most wonderful chocolate cake . . . Then we went for a walk by the river there, sat and read books in the YMCA lobby, and drifted on to bed . . .