Stairway to Heaven

The heart of the charming city of Bath is Bath Abbey. It was begun in the early 12th century,  then begun again after a fire destroyed the half built structure, and completed almost a century later. It has also been added onto over the years, up to and including the present day. Every cathedral we visited in England had some sort of renovation or construction going on. It's always a fight with time and entropy to save these magnificent buildings.

Technically, the church is no longer an Abbey ( housing a monastery) as it switched from Catholic to Anglican during the Reformation, but the name remains. Numerous architects over the years have added to it's appearance, including the striking and ornate fan ceiling completed in the 19th century, which I found particularly beautiful.

There are also a number of whimsical touches that make it unique, including the angels climbing the ladder to heaven that frame the outside entrance.

Here are some of the sights of the interior.

 Construction workers putting in a new floor to prevent flooding and leaks.

 And my favorite little oddity, a memorial wall plaque (the Abbey is only second to Westminster Abbey in its number of wall plaques) that, curiously, contains a little boy holding a beaver.

Farewell, lovely city.

From Bath, our next stop was Chester. It was off to the railroad station for the first of many train rides around Britain. Fortunately, because of the size of England and Scotland, we were never on a journey that took more than three hours.
All aboard.