We toured the ruins of the Roman baths, which are indeed fascinating, although they have been too adulterated (i.e., redecorated) over the years to rank high on my list of worthwhile Classical attractions. We enjoyed the guided tour very much and took a few generous swallows of the water from the geothermal spring that still runs at the site. I would have enjoyed bathing in the warm waters, but the bathing areas are so commercialized that we were turned off by them. (No doubt, we are spoiled by the simple, rustic, inexpensive and/or free hot-spring pools that we enjoy in the mountains of California!)
The main pool at the Roman Baths of Bath.
I was most impressed with the gorgeous and majestic Bath Abbey. As you can see by the photo, its Gothic architecture is marvelously intricate. My favorite artifact of Bath Abbey is the carved Jacob's Ladder flanking the doorways in the front. So unique and engaging!
The Bath Abbey and courtyard (above)
and Jacob's Ladder from its façade (below).
From Bath, Cynthia and I rode a train to the hard-working city of Manchester, which had been the home of our paternal grandmother, Mary Jane O'Brien. We called her Grandma Jenny. Her parents' families were from Ireland--County Mayo and County Roscommon--but they had been in western England since the mid-19th century. Grandma Jenny was born in Manchester in 1904 and lived in the same general area until moving to America in 1920.
One of the most striking characteristics of Manchester is its wonderful lack of tourists. Certainly, there is a lot to see in Manchester, including two major teams and stadiums for football (that's "soccer" in Yank-speak), a football museum, and of course art, history, and science museums, plus a zoo.
Cynthia and I enjoyed taking in the bustling local work-a-day color of the place. So many nice people! The joy of getting to know Manchester and its people can be somewhat illustrated by the purple, leather-jacketed, rebelliously no-nonsense character, pictured below, that appeared all over the city to advertise for a mobile-phone service.
Of course, church mice like us had to spend time exploring the beautiful neo-Gothic Manchester Cathedral, which had been damaged during the Blitz in 1940 but has been lovingly repaired, complete with a very reverent section dedicated to those who served in the war.
The grounds of the Cathedral include a lovely garden and play yard with a whimsical teeter-totter that we simply had to try out!
Of course, church mice like us had to spend time exploring the beautiful neo-Gothic Manchester Cathedral, which had been damaged during the Blitz in 1940 but has been lovingly repaired, complete with a very reverent section dedicated to those who served in the war.
Manchester Cathedral.
The grounds of the Cathedral include a lovely garden and play yard with a whimsical teeter-totter that we simply had to try out!
Our only disappointment in Manchester was learning that the archives at the beautiful Victorian Gothic John Rylands Library was not especially useful for our genealogical research, because it contained nothing that we could not access via the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. In fact, the librarians at Rylands do such research themselves through the Utah library! Still, the Rylands Library is a lovely place, and next time I will endeavor to enjoy what it actually has, rather than grouse about what it does not have.
The Reading Room at the John Rylands Library.
Fortunately, I had collected enough advance information about our grandmother's old neighborhood that Cynthia and I were able to have a particularly good time exploring it, including a very friendly pub named Bullock Smithy(!). Details about Grandma Jenny's life in Manchester will be the subject of a future posting.
A treasured photo of Grandma Jenny, seated on the left, and her sister Margaret, taken in 1920, the year they left England.
The nerd in me had to visit the august University of Manchester, where there is a wonderful park-bench sculpture of the famous cryptologist Alan Turing, whose work in decoding Nazi messages was instrumental in helping the Allies win the war in Europe. We found piles of flower bouquets on Dr. Turing's statue! Good to see he has lots of fans, including me! (Apologies for my squinty eyes in this photo. My small eyes close up in bright light 😎.)
Our "recon" mission in Manchester was satisfying enough that I'm hoping to visit there again before too long, likely for more family research. When Cynthia and I left Manchester, we hopped aboard another train bound for Edinburgh, Scotland!
Annie
"Machines take me by surprise with great frequency" -- Alan Turing.
