Wednesday, March 18 - An overnight trip to Bath...

Though the previous day was exhausting we had little time to unwind. Why? Well this morning we were taking an 8:30am train to Bath! What is Bath, you may ask? Good question. See the map to your left to get an idea of where it is in relation to London and read this for info:

The waters from its spring were believed to be a cure for many afflictions. From Elizabethan to Georgian times it was a resort city for the wealthy. As a result of its popularity during the latter period, the city contains many fine examples of Georgian architecture, most notably the Royal Crescent. The city has a population of over 80,000 and is a World Heritage Site. The archaeological evidence shows that the site of the main spring was treated as a shrine by the Celts, and dedicated to the goddess Sulis. The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They knew it as Aquae Sulis (literally "the waters of Sulis"), identifying the goddess with Minerva.

Since we hadn't packed the night before we were in a bit of a rush and barely made it out the door by 7:50. Luckily, Paddington Station was only one stop away from where we boarded at the Gloucester tube station in South Kensington. The London trains are fairly easy to figure out -- nothing like the ones in Paris (thinking back to our honeymoon in 2001 - that's a story for another time though!). Got on board and, after a brief, annoying encounter with some fat Brit-bitch who seemed irritated that tourists existed, we settled in for the 1.5 hour trip...some of us settled in quickly, as it would turn out!

Got off the train and hurried to our guest house so we could drop off our bags and begin our day in Bath. Happily, we discovered that the fine, most accommodating folk at the Henry Guest House were good enough to let us check in early. The very nice proprietress clued us in on a free walking tour that commenced in a few minutes. We barely had time to put our belongings in our spacious and clean room and make our way over to the Bath Abbey (a gorgeous, "Perpendicular Gothic" structure) courtyard where the tour had just started. The tour got off to a meandering start (it wasn't a bad tour but would have taken two hours to complete) and we were eager to start seeing some of the sights, so we peeled off and headed to the Roman Baths, (links to the fine wikipedia description, not the completely useless and uninformative "official" website which you can find here if you must) hoping to get a head start on the growing number of tourists and dreaded school groups that appeared to be multiplying each minute.

We grabbed our audio guides and started the tour of the baths with the more "recent" section built in the late 1800s after the Roman baths had been rediscovered. This upper terrace gives you a great bird's-eye view down onto the original Roman Baths as well as an amazing view of the late 15th century Bath Abbey. This was such an awe-inspiring view onto centuries of great buildings! The tour then took us down into an indoor museum showing various sections of the baths and displaying artifacts taken from the site, allowing visitors to get an idea of how glorious and large the baths complex truly was and insight into the culture of the peoples who visited the site. Some highlights of the museum included a carved head thought to be the Gorgon's head, headstones of those buried at the site (including some who had traveled to the site in the hopes of curing themselves) and artifacts of offerings to the goddess Sulis Minerva (for whom the baths were dedicated) and curses carved in metal that visitors threw into the sacred spring.

We then walked around the Great Bath which is the central attraction at the site. Still in place is the original, 2000 year old (!) lead pipe used to bring water from the main spring into the Great Bath. It was amazing to walk around on stones that you knew people had walked in for thousands of years. It was also amazing to think about the lifestyles people led at the time. Apparently the baths were part of a great social network for the Roman upper class. Business meetings were held in the Baths for hours at a time followed by servants giving rubdowns, followed by feasting. Not a bad life!

Left the great Baths and walked into the world-famous "Pump Room." This great hall was built in 1795 back when high society-types of Great Britain would meet and be seen. People would drink the supposedly curative waters but apparently the taste is godawful. Unfortunately it was crowded and the lunch wait would have been awhile so we left after giving the place a good look-over.

After a quick bite to eat at a local pub we started the double-decker bus sightseeing tour of Bath. It was nice to have someone drive us around for a while and point out areas of interest. This is where we had a chance to see the truly beautiful Georgian architecture that makes Bath as spectacular as it is. You really feel like you're stepping back in time. We left the bus (a get-in, get-off type of operation) once we reached the world-famous No. 1 Royal Crescent. This was a "a magnificently restored Georgian town house that creates a wonderfully vital picture of life in Georgian Bath." And that, essentially was what it was -- a look into how the upper crust lived back in the late 1700s. According to one of the guides this whole building was in terrible shape until the late 1960s when a preservation group got ahold of it and started putting it back together ("it cost a fortune just to heat a building of this size..."). Much of the furnishings were donated from wealthy individuals and organizations all across England. One of the more bizarre bits we learned about life during this time was how certain "private" functions were viewed. In the "study" room men would play cards for many hours at a time. A "gentleman's pot cupboard" was situated next to the fireplace. When any of the card-players needed to "relieve" themselves they would simply pull the pot out of the cupboard, urinate in open view of everyone, then put the pot back into the cupboard! Going down to the basement area was the kitchen where the main object of interest was the bizarre "dog wheel" -- in which a large wooden wheel was affixed to a spit turning meat. A specially-bred dog was placed in the wheel and was forced to keep running so the spit would turn! If the dog did not run it would be prodded with a hot poker. These dogs were given two-hour shifts to keep from being worn out. According to the literature in the kitchen this practice still existed up until the 1950s in certain rural counties!

Took a look around the area to see the impressive Royal Crescent and park grounds around it. Quite a magnificent structure. We got back on another bus and completed the tour which included going over the Pulteney Bridge, "one of only four bridges lined with shops in the world."
After getting back into town we went back to the guesthouse to take a 45-minute nap before our dinner reservation and theater plans. Based on a Rick Steves' message board recommendation (from a fellow LA tourist!) we had reserved a table at the "Hole in the Wall" restaurant for 6:00 PM. It was interesting to be walking through the Bath city streets as many of the 200-year plus old shops were now housing chain stores like GAP, Mailboxes etc.; parts of it almost felt like walking through Universal City walk - but much nicer.

We were concerned about finishing our meal before our 7:30 theater program - this turned out to be unfounded. Aside from an obnoxious company party in one of the other rooms we were the first people there! The food itself was excellent -- tasty goat cheese tarts, salmon, lamb along with a couple of glasses Zinfandel (from California!) and a South African cab.

"Duet for One" was playing at the Theatre Royal Bath starring Juliet Stevenson. We had decided on this play a couple of weeks ago after realizing that it was too early in the season for any night tours of Bath (and because we were curious about this theater). This was a two-person psychodrama with great acting but an overall sad, depressing play. We were pretty beat by this time so we had trouble staying awake! Read a review here. Afterwards we walked around the almost-deserted city streets. The dim lighting and dark corridors added a gothic atmosphere to the area broken up only by the occasional college couple caught making out in a dark corner or searching for one of the few clubs.