Saturday In Bath May 22, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Bath , trackbackSo today was a lovely sunny day in Bath (and pretty hot) and we spent most of it in the city. We took a tour of the Roman Baths that are in the heart of the town and people watched for most of the early afternoon. Afterward we went to a garden party.
While in Bath it is interestinig to think that the city looks pretty and very old, but we were informed that the city was bombed in WWII and so only half of the old city remains. Bloomfield, the B&B we’re staying in, was not hit directly, but all of the windows facing towards the town were blown out. However, the city has made a great recovery since through its tourist industry (four million tourists a year). The houses in the old part of town are extremely expensive and there is the Royal Crescent which is possibly the most upscale you could get in Bath (an attic apartment costs around 600,000 Pounds). Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp both own houses around Bath.
I have been to the Roman Baths before but Chris had not, so we took an audio guided tour. It was amazing (even seeing it a second time)! However the audio guide was a bit lacking from what I remember the commentary being a couple of years back. A great example is the origins of the wishing well which came from the men throwing coins into the pool to watch the young boy swim after them as a form of entertainment (this has been changed to an offering to the gods).
This Roman Bath is situated on the only natural hot spring in the UK and it became not only a place for recreation but also a temple for Minerva. Many people came to the Bath for healing or,for military personnel, to ask for victory (Minerva is well known for being fond of battle). It was all very interesting and they have made tons of progress in the way of excavating artifacts from the bottom of the main Bath (people were notorious for throwing curses etched in a soft metal or “gifts” to the gods into the waters). Before the Romans, there were the indigenous people who didn’t live near the hot spring but the archeologists have found arrowheads and other small tools in and around the area of the hot spring.
After we found a nice coffee shoppe near the Baths and sipped at tea while people watching. It was hilarious! Some of the people looked as though their three year old dressed them and a hand full of others were in costumes! The people in costumes were looking for donations, so would make sense that they were trying to be eye catching. There were cow costumes, The Mario brothers, Bumble Bees, and many more.
Our host, Rob, has told us about a town near here that would be perfect for an afternoon of people watching. The people who inhabit it are apparently quite daft in the way of dressing. He said that they wear very Harry Potter-esque clothing (with the pointy hats and what not). That should be an interesting thing to see.
The garden party was lovely and primarily a social gathering (it was like a private picnic with only deserts). Our hosts for the evening were nice people. The man originally came from Holland and has the same interest in computers as Chris (they Geek-ed it up a bit talking about the conference Chris was just at in London) and his flatmate, a lovely young lady who is about to finish her degree in language studies.
Our hosts have given us the weekend off to explore and relax (also because Bloomfield becomes completely booked every weekend and so they don’t think they can get much of anything done while taking care of the guests). So, for tomorrow we have no plans yet but we’re thinking about visiting Stonehenge or perhaps one of the other rich and beautiful towns near here.
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