Monday, 26 November 2007

Bathing Roman style

So next up, it was off to Bath. Several train changes later, the train was pulling into Bath Spa station and I alighted from the train, ready to enjoy the splendors of the city... Unfortunatley, Bath is not that impressive from the train station. There is now a massive work site where a department store is being built, and the street is kinda manky. Still, perservered, walking up to where I thought the hostel should be... only to discover I was confusing the hostels! Anyway, made it to the YMCA (heh) and checked in to my solo room... Bliss! It was pretty cool, with a basin and my own desk! Awesome! Anyhoo, after that I went trolling the streets of Bath, trying to figure out where I was in relation to all the cool stuff. Hopped on the sightseer bus, always a must when you get somewhere, and it took me places I hadn't even heard of... nice. I did one loop and then hopped off, where it was straight to the tourism office to see what I should see. I found a day trip to Stonehenge, which also took me to a couple of other places, so signed up for that. Other brochures pointed me in the direction of other sights, including Sally Lunn's, which is the oldest house in Bath and serves a special bun thing. It was yummy, that's all I care about! They have a kitchen museum there, which was pretty lame. Next up, I went to Bath Abbey... Ugh, another church! Really, not much different from the gazillion I had already seen. I then popped into a supermarket for dinner, thinking there would be a kitchen at the hostel... yeah, no kitchen. Awesome. So after some creative microwave work (cos they did have a microwave), I had my dinner, spent some time on the internet, booking my London accomodation and then bed time.

The next day I decided to do a walking tour of Bath. I wandered around until the time of the walk, checking out the scenery. The walk took us around most of Bath, checking out the major sights with a little bit of history of each. The dude was very informative and it was a great way of getting my bearings. Also killed a couple of hours... yay! After the tour, it was time for the Roman Baths. After getting a ticket that included a trip to the Fashion Museum too (yay!), I entered the Baths, which were just awesome. The springs that feed the bath they believe came from rain that fell about a million years ago and has made its way from its origin point through the earth, gaining heat along the way, until it popped out at Bath. The Romans utilised the springs, building a fantastic temple and bathhouse on the site, dedicating it to the Roman goddess Minerva and the Celtic god Sulis (those Romans were into incorporating local beliefs into their empire... nice stuff). Anyway, the baths are so impressives. Besides the Great Bath, there was two sets of rooms flanking, each with heated floors(!) and a sauna, as well as a 'cooling down/warming up' room, so people didn't have too much of a shock when they entered the hot water. So much fun times. I reckon I spent about two hours there, fascinated by all the artifacts they had discovered, and the baths themselves. Oh, and they had actors portraying characters around the baths. I saw a highborn lady and her servant, enjoying the grooming aspects of the bath, and then a priest, praying in latin to Sulis Minerva.

After the baths, it was time for some refreshments. I got my free glass of Bath water (mm, sounds so delicious when I put it that way), which didn't taste that bad to me, and I of course ordered high tea from the Pump Room, the place where all the cool Georgians hung out, which was nummy. Little baby creme brulee, fruit tart, strange vol-au-vants, scones with jam and clotted cream... mmm. After that, it was way too dark to do anything, so had me some dinner and then I joined the Bath Ghost Walk. Now, I was hoping that it would be like the York Ghost Walk (ie, brilliant) but alas, the Bath one was a bit of a wash out (heh). It was way too paranormally for me, with the guide obviously believing in the paranormal and doing the whole flaky thing. The guy in York backed his stuff up with research and facts (much more interesting, I feel) whereas the guy in Bath backed his up with "and now we are entering a small valley where you will feel it get colder (well, duh, it's a valley) and the friendly ghosts will take your hand..." Yeah, it was a bit naff. Still, got me out of the YMCA!

The next day was my trip to Stonehenge! Yay! I did a tour with Mad Max, which took me to Stonehenge, Avebury Stone Circles, Lacock Village and Castle Coombe Village. Fun times. So first up was Stonehenge, which was just great. I loved it... I think I have a bit of a thing for stone circles. It's disappointing that you can't go up and play amongst the stones, but it's still amazing to see them, shaped to some ancient design, and we have no idea of their purpose. The freeways is right next to the stones, but there are plans to dig tunnels underneath Stonehenge, allowing for the stones to be seen the way they were when they were first built (well, mostly... I think the landscape may have changed a tad in the last 3000 years). Anyway, fun times were had! Next up, we travelled to Avebury Stone Circle, which is about 2 miles in diameter, so big there is a village in the middle of it! Also, it has some sort of weird magnetic field there, which allows for copper dowsing rods to do wonky things when you're holding them. After Avebury, we drove past Silbury Hill, a big mound that was actually made by prehistoric man. No one knows what it's purpose was, and archeologists are currently working away inside it. We then saw some of the famous White Horses of Wiltshire, stylised carvings in the hill sides of horses, made white by the chalk composition of the Wiltshire earth. Our lunch stop was at Lacock Village, a world heritage area and the location for filming of Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter! In fact, Harry Potter #6 had just wrapped production there, and the production vans were still on site. I had a dodgy pasty for lunch (it was really meh) and then wandered around the village, which was tiny. When we left, it was so strange cos it took five seconds to get back to the 21st Century - there was a set of traffic lights, a supermarket and a petrol station! We then travelled on to Castle Coombe, which is a super pretty little village... nothing too exciting, but still nice. We drove back to Bath and that was all she wrote!

The next day was all about museums... I started off with the Jane Austen Centre, which was kinda cool... and they had a tea room, so had some sugar bun thing that was prescribed as a restorative in Georgian times! After the Jane Austen Centre, it was off to the Assembly Rooms and the Fashion Museum! I had waited to go to the Assembly Rooms, as they were closed on Thursday and I really wanted to see them... however, the Great Ballroom was shut when I went, so I had to content myself to seeing two of the three rooms... oh well. Oh, and while I was in Bath, Keira Knightly was filming, um, I think it's called The Duchess? Anyway, the Royal Crescent was all closed to traffic and the like, so awesome fun times! Not that I saw anyone famous, but still. Anyway, back to the Assembly Rooms. After I wandered, I went down to the Fasion Museum, which is in the same building... ah, now that was fun! I spent ages there, looking at all the pretty clothes and shoes and handbags... *sigh* So much fun.

After the Fashion Museum, I wandered around, seeing the Circus and the Royal Crescent, oh, and going to No 1 Royal Crescent, a Georgian museum. The house is decked out like a Georgian townhouse would be... it was kinda interesting, but you can only take so much of that stuff before you go a little bonkers... I think Scotland ruined it for me! Anyway, wandering Bath was fun, and then I decided to see a movie that night... and the movie I saw had Castle Coombe in it! Hah! Had just been there! Awesome!

The next day, it was time to say goodbye to Bath *sniff* and hello to Cardiff!

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