University continues to be relatively slow on the coursework, so I had another week with plenty of time to play tourist.

On Thursday I visited the famous Georgian townhouse No 1 Royal Crescent.  It was occupied for  20 years in the late 1700s by Henry Sandford, and has been restored to how they think it looked when he lived there.  The house was a good journey through the upstairs and downstairs life of a wealthy gentleman and his staff, I'd say Mr. Sandford was fairly comfortable there.  No photos allowed inside sorry, but here is the front of the house

and of course the Royal Crescent itself (people still live there!)

I also found the third (and as far as I am aware, last) obelisk in Bath

This is for Queen Victoria.  I now know that the other two (for Frederick Prince of Wales and the Prince of Orange) were erected by Beau Nash, Master of Ceremonies (ie. Master of Fun), at his own expense.  I think he did it to make friends.

On Saturday I headed to Wells, smallest city in England.  It may be small but it has an absolutely spectacular cathedral.  Wells is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.  The cathedral was started in the 12th Century to replace a Roman church. Again no photos inside which is a real pity because it is truly breathtaking. This website gives a pretty good idea http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/wells-cathedral/photos

Wells Cathedral is most well-know for the scissor arches, they look new but were actually installed 1338-1348 to combat the subsidence of the tower after the tower was built up (always got to go higher).  The cathedral is mostly the same golden-white hue of the stone, but back in its day, the cathedral was painted in vibrant colours - it would have been quite the image!

This is the West Front, also very well-known.  At the top is Jesus, below him his 12 disciples, then the nine order of angles followed by many statues of bishops, kings and queens.

And the cathedral cat, Louis, a delightful sight wandering the cloisters :)

Of course, being the seat of the bishop there is also a Bishop's Palace.  The bishop still lives there today, although I think there is current discussion about moving him elsewhere - poor man, I wouldn't want to leave.

Incredibly the palace used to be larger, but in the 19th Century the bishop knocked down one of the wings so that he could have a beautiful ruin in his garden.  It worked, very pretty, but conservation!! (To be fair the modern British view on conservation didn't emerge until the 1970s).

Oh what pretty ruins.

Supposedly the swans that live on the moat around the Bishop's Palace have been trained to ring a bell for their supper.  I didn't see this, but how very civilised.

Finally, here is a picture of one of the wells for which the city got its name. That's the cathedral in the background.