Also, let me know if you liked the slide show post - should I do more of those?
So on Tuesday we drove to Bath. Nothing opened until 11, so we had a leisurely morning. How nice. The tricky part of Bath is parking - so much of it has time limits. We started at the Podium shopping center - which had a max of 4 hours. Then were forced to look to street parking, once for a 2 hour max, and then finally a 1 hour spot. We saw what we planned on, so I guess it worked out. It was a lovely day. Have a look:
#1 on the schedule was the Roman Baths. Situated just next to the big Bath Cathedral. We picked up our audio guides and were off. I listened to all of the audio lectures and learned a lot. I probably forgot it all too. :)
There was so much to see. Temple Ruins, room after room of the bathhouse, statues, altars, tombstones, models of what the baths must have looked like. A lot to take in. I know that Rebecca loved it. I'll probably go back - but I'd really love to go down the road to the Thermae Spa that has open springs and a lot of therapies offered. What a treat - but expensive. You'll notice that the water in the pictures is green. Supposedly that is because the baths are now open to the sunlight, and so algae flourishes. During the times of the Romans, there was a roof on the bath houses, so the water would have been clear. Upstairs from the main part of the baths is a fancy restaurant called the Pump Room. They have a water fountain of treated bath water. (sounds appetizing, doesn't it?). A glass of water cost 50p, or was free with your ticket into the baths. Since we paid for it, Rebecca and I tried a glass.
The fish on the fountain are more appropriate than you'd think. The water has a faintly fishy smell as you raise the glass toward your nose. But more memorable is the temperature - it was very warm - not hot, but more than tepid.
We both finished our glasses, but agree that we wouldn't need to have another. I have drunk of the restorative waters of Bath - and I'm not sick. So maybe they work. :)After the baths we went up to the Fashion Museum. We had bought combo tickets at the Roman Baths that gave us 10% off the Fashion Museum. The museum is situated in the basement of the Assembly Rooms. A beautiful building with big ballrooms and chandeliers. The museum was smaller than I thought, but had some lovely clothes displayed (old and new) and of course had the fabulous audio guide. But, I'd say the best part of the museum was a hands-on room full of crinoline and corsets to try on. We both had a good time lacing each other in. Rebecca held onto the wall as I tightened the laces. If I go again, I'll take more care that what I am wearing will look better in the pictures. A lime-green fuzzy sweater was not the way to go. While we were doing each other up, a tiny asian woman and her boyfriend walked in. I should have taken her picture, she was probably about 1/3 my size. Aren't the pictures fun:
A very amused British couple came through as we were taking each other's picture and snapped some of us together. The wife was hilarious and asked if it was uncomfortable. We both said it wasn't as bad as we'd expected, but we couldn't breathe deeply. Then she clarified and asked about our boobs. In those terms. I laughed outloud - as much as I could with no breath, and said I probably would opt out of underwire on the next trip - it was gouging a bit.
I just have to say how brilliantly frizzy my hair was. It takes a few days for the curl to recover after being straightened with my super hot flat irons. I fear it may never fully recover. Oh well. I figure women of corset times had similarly distressed hair. The sweater wasn't an authentic look, but the hair was.
This isn't the Royal Crescent, but 1/4 of a circle called The Circus, which has a big roundabout in the middle. The Royal Crescent is much larger but similarly shaped. We ate our WaitRose lunch in the middle of The Circus in a small park. It was grand.
After the Fashion Museum we had to repark. I forgot earlier to mention that parking meant making change - what a mess. But I did have my parking fairy with us that day. We got very lucky and didn't have to walk too far. Our last destination was the Jane Austen Center. Our visit started by being right on time for the hourly lecture given by one of the docents. It was great hearing about Jane Austen's life and what parts of it (and her books) took place in Bath. Rebecca and I spent a lot of time quoting Miss Austen throughout the day, so it was a good finale. After the talk, there were a few exhibits - but not as much as I had expected. Then a small book/gift shop - where we shockingly bought nothing. Although there were versions of JA books with very nice covers and typesetting. But I refrained. I don't need anymore books. My house is jammed.
We left Bath around 4. I was excited because that meant we'd miss most of the traffic on the M4. However, Bath (the town itself) seems to be in a constant traffic jam, so it took some time to get back up to the M4. Since we were done a bit early, we decided to drive to Barbury Castle (very near my house) - where there is no castle anymore. It is up a windy, 1-lane, steep hill of a road that made me very nervous the first time I tried to go there. This time I was much less nervous, so we actually made it to the top and to the castle site. It is atop a ridge way and it was FREEZING. The sun was starting to set - and the wind was picking up. We were walking ice cubes. There is a recent reproduction of an Iron Age house and some mounds where the castle is thought to have been. Really it is used as a picnic/kite flying site by locals. We hurried back to the car to get warm again.
We had Indian Takeaway for dinner...gobs of it. I actually just ordered 1 main dish - Chicken Tikka Masala (not Marsala), but with the Naan and Raita (so good) we were both very full. We enjoyed several episodes of Firefly as we ate. Good times.
Well, I spent 45 minutes. Just 1 more day of site seeing to blog about - Bowood House and Stonehenge on Wednesday. We also had a game night (Rebecca got to meet some locals), and then Thursday was for me to work and a biking adventure for Rebecca. We also went shopping for Rebecca's take home goodies, and then went to see Stardust. Great movie. I'll probably just blog about Bowood House, and probably post a slideshow - there were some great photos that day. Then the blogs about Rebecca's trip will be done. :)
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