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Friday, August 14, 2009

Jane Austen's Bath and Giveaway

Gardens
"Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?"

As most of you already know, I visited Bath before heading north into Scotland on our trip last month. Bath was amazing. Absolutely beautiful, very picturesque. It felt like I was in another time (when I ignored all the tourists milling about). The main reason for adding Bath to our (my) itinerary was to get a chance to visit a place that Jane Austen placed her characters in in a couple of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Jane Austen Center
The first day we were there we just walked around and took in the sights around our hotel. We had just flown in and taken the train from London so we were very tired and not too in the mood for Jane Austen sightseeing just yet. That didn't happen until after I visited the Jane Austen Centre and learned more about the areas she haunted and the places around town that are mentioned in her books. 

With camera and my copy of Northanger Abbey in hand I set out to locate some of those places...

Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge

Catherine Morland walks down Pulteney Street where she has "comfortable lodgings" with the Allens.

The Pump Room
The Pump Room

“Every creature in Bath, except himself, was to be seen in the Room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every moment passing in and out, up the steps and down; people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see; and he only was absent.” 

Assembly Rooms
The Assembly Rooms (The Upper Rooms pictured)
I love the scenes that take place here. It is where all the action is in the evenings- balls, concerts, cards and tea.

"It was a splendid sight; and she began, for the first time that evening, to feel herself at a ball...”

One place I did not get a picture of because it was pouring down rain, was the graveled path where Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth declare their love for each other at the end of Persuasion. We did walk down the path from the Royal Crescent to  Street. It was a very romantic walk, hand in hand with the hubby. :) I did get this photo of the Royal Crescent.

Royal Crescent

I did manage to bring back with me a small gift to share with one lucky person. I really wanted to bring something a little bigger but my backpack limited my souvenir buying. :)

giveaway
So, if you are interested in this really cute Mr. Darcy bookmark (recognize that portrait?) and the postcard just leave a comment here and you are entered. If you are participating in Stephanie's Everything Austen Challenge, let me know and you will get two entries. 
Giveaway ends 11:00pm CST on Friday, August 21st.


Happy reading!

(Quotes are all from Northanger Abbey.)





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31 comments:

  1. That's such a cute bookmark! Maybe one day I'll get the chance to go to bath. It sounds like you had a great time.

    I'm a part of the Everything Austen Challenge.

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  2. I just found your blog...looks interesting! I love Jane Austen. I plan on reading more of your blog...

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  3. What a great trip for you! Looks like you had an amazing time in the UK.

    I'm in the "Everything Austen" challenge also :)

    Thanks for the two entries! Nice to "meet" you!

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  4. A Darcy bookmark! Wonderful! I am participating in the challenge. I must say that your pictures and your trip sound wonderful, and I love the fact that your hubby participated.

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  5. I'd love to have that bookmark! I collect them. I've got plenty of them but this one is so cute and Austenish! I am in the Everything Austen Challenge. Happy to discover your blog, Mari. I'll be back!

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  6. What an amazing trip, Mari! I would love to visit Bath someday. It really does look like a world apart--I think I would feel a little resentful of all the other tourists for being reminders that it really is the present day and not Regency England!

    I, too, am part of the Everything Austen Challenge. If you get the chance, I hope you'll stop by and check out my mini-challenge, Jane Austen Mix-and-Matchmaking"!

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  7. Great pictures. I think it's awesome you can actually got to places Austen referenced in the books. I'd love to visit there someday.

    (btw, you don't need to enter me for the contest. I'm one of those weirdos who think Mr. Firth is quite unattractive, haha!)

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  8. I love the picture of the bridge!
    Please enter my name in the drawing. The bookmark is great!

    reading_frenzy at yahoo dot com

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  9. Hi Mari,
    Your pictures are lovely and remind me of our own trip to Bath last summer. We visited all the same spots, and I even purchased the same bookmark at the Jane Austen Centre! No need to enter me in the giveaway...just wanted you to know I loved reading your post!

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  10. What fantastic photos. I'd love to enter for the bookmark and I am part of the Everything Austen Challenge.

    bj19662001 (at) yahoo (dot) ca

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  11. I would love to have these. Please enter my name in your draw. Thanks.
    wandanamgreb (at) gmail (dot) com

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  12. What a treat to visit Bath and to see those places. As well as all the other places you are seeing and experiences. It's great to see your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. what a great trip! thanks for sharing your pics. love the bath garden and Royal Crescent! ahhh, darcy ;-D
    +1 i'm part of Everything Austen
    thanks,
    vvb32 at yahoo.com

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  14. Have I mentioned how jealous I am that you visited Bath and Austen-esque places! Ok, so I definitely want to enter this giveaway...how could I not.

    Love the photos.

    I follow your blog and I am part of the Everything Austen Challenge, and I've already posted two reviews for the challenge.

    savvyverseandwit AT gmail DOT com

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  15. My best friend lives in Bath! Please count me in!

    delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  16. Yeah! I'm so jealous. One day...I am participating in Stephanie's Everything Austen Challenge as well. I would love to win these, thanks for the giveaway!

    hmsgofita(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  17. Bath has always been one of my places to visit. It sounds like you had a great time.

    I would love to be entered in the giveaway. I am participating in the Everything Austen challenge.

    Grace2133(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  18. Bath is my absolute favourite place in the world (even though I haven't actually been to all of the places in the world I feel I can say this with some confidance!). Thank you so much for sharing your trip!

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  19. I am in the Jane Austen Challenge and would LOVE the Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy bookmark. Thanks so much for bringing it back for us :) What a wonderful trip!

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  20. Hi, I was directed here through the Written Word. The trip to Bath looks like it was lovely (I really want to go there now!). I'd love to win the bookmark (and I am participating in the everything Austen challenge). Janicu [at] gmail [dot] com.

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  21. Oh, I haven't been to Bath in ages! I'm jealous of your recent trip. When I was there, it was for a short pass through and didn't get to do official Austen-esque things, so it's so fun to see your pictures. Thanks for bringing back a bookmark for us! I'm also doing the Everything Austen Challenge. Cheers!

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  22. Wasn't Bath fabulous? I wanna go back now. There's still so much I haven't seen there. I'll never forget going into the Jane Austen Centre with Pen and totally intimidating the staff by telling them she was doing her dissertation on Jane and Maggie. So unfair, but funny all the same!

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  23. Oh please enter me! And I'm in the Jane Austen challenge also.

    Thanks so much for sharing your photos. That's the closest I've been to Bath yet!! *sigh* the Darcy bookmark - I'm such a sucker for Darcy (as played by the one and only Colin Firth) that I think my husband is a little jealous of him!

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  24. Thank you for sharing your trip and these lovely souvenirs with us.
    :o)
    Please count me in 2x, as I am participating in Stephanie's Everything Austen Challenge, and loving it.
    :o)

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  25. +1 What a lovely trip and what lovely pictures! I will probably never make it to Bath, or Europe for that matter, so I will need to rely on others' photos. I would love to win your little treasures!

    +1 I am participating in Stephanie's Everything Austen challenge too.

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  26. Great pics, Mari! Thanks so much for sharing!
    I'd love to win the bookmark. I love P&P! :)

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  27. Oh enter me. Thanks for Sharing.. I am so jealous too. I really need to be in the challenge but I am not. ;) tonigomez (@) surewest (dot) net. Thank you

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  28. That book mark would do very well for my beloved copy of Pride & Prejudice, and even better for the finer, larger, complete Jane Austen works I intend to purchase someday after my Mr. Darcy gets Pemberly back from his Cambridge creditors.

    Okay, so my Mr. Darcy is nowhere near England, and so I, too, am incredibly jealous of your fabulous vacation. I'm in the Everything Austen challenge and would love to be in this giveaway. Thanks for sharing with us poor deprived non traveling Austen fans. :) inkylou (at) hotmail (dot) com

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  29. I just found your blog through someone on LiveJournal. Love the photos from your trip! I enjoyed wandering around Bath in '05 and '07. Someday I'd like to follow in her footsteps in Lyme too. Sigh.

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  30. would love to be included in the drawing for this. Very cool of you. Thanks. :)

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  31. Your pictures are beautiful! It looks like you had a lovely time. I hope I make it there someday -- how exciting! :)

    Thanks for the chance to win the souvenirs -- they're awesome! I'm participating in Stephanie's Everything Austen challenge, too.

    Meg :)
    writing.meg [ at] gmail.com

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! :)