If the Assembly Rooms are not being used for a private function (they often are), you can stroll through the four elegant rooms that were the center of 18th-century Bath’s social life at a time when balls, card-playing, and gossip ranked high among life’s priorities. Downstairs, and open daily, is the Fashion Museum, devoted to the finery in which a lady or dandy of Jane Austen's time would have flirted and danced away an evening. This is one of the world’s leading collections of fashion (about 2,000 pieces are on display), so you'll also be treated to more modern duds, including creations by Versace, Armani, and other contemporary designers.