Journey to Bath

Originally, we thought we might be able to do two excursions in one day.   The thought for today was we'd be able to go to Stonehenge and then swing west to Bath.  Ultimately, we decided to just focus on Bath.

The path to Bath began on the Motorway--the M5.  Motorway driving is a snap.  Actually it's nowhere near as charming as the trip on the A roads (two-laners), but it was a much more relaxed drive--until we got to Bristol.  The Google Map instructions had us going through the center of the city.  For future reference, that's not advisable. Two-lane city streets in England are prone to difficult passage due to the tendency to park on the side of the road obstructing traffic.

This trip was a bit longer than the trip to Blenheim, but we finally made it.  We maneuvered our way through the city to the Royal Crescent, almost by accident; but even better, we found a free parking space right there!

We hadn't walked too far before finding a place to visit, the Georgian House.

As noted yesterday with respect to Blenheim, one could not take photos inside the house.  Here's the address plate.

It's only five rooms, "hosted" by docents who hand over laminated information sheets.  I think our big take-away was disgust at the habits of the Georgians.  They were exceptionally fashion-conscious, and completely without a sense of hygiene.  We learned that head scratchers were de rigueur since fashionable women of the day washed their hair only two or three times a year.  It's a better known fact that women wore leaded white make-up to hide their pock marks from smallpox.  When we were in the very lovely dining room, we spied some beautiful Worcester porcelain; I felt proud. There was rather frequent reference to chamber pots hidden behind doors in the corners of the rooms.  Seriously, the smell must have been appalling.  Another horror was the spit in the kitchen powered by a little dog: short-legged, long-bodied, rather dachsand-like.  Another horror was the mousetrap which not only caught the  vermin, but spiked them in the head for good measure.  We made it through the house in relatively short order, and then went in search of "buckyouuppo".

En route to the cafe, we passed by some really lovely floral displays.

It's the first week in October, but you really couldn't tell from the beautiful flowers in full bloom throughout the city.

The cafe we were directed to overlooked a grass tennis court and gave a partial view of some of Bath's seven hills.

After our treats, we headed down toward the city center in search of the Roman Baths.  I'd been there 10 years ago, but the facility was in the process of being remodeled.  All we saw back then was the main bath.

 The facility is now fully developed and quite remarkable.

This mock-up is simple, but really effective.  The excavation of the site revealed some terrific artifacts.

One of the strategies employed was to use mock-ups of what was missing.

The audiophone guide included commentary by the great travel writer Bill Bryson.  Bryson noted on this one that the Gorgon depicted here was highly unusual because it is clearly a male face with a mustache and beard of serpents instead of the feminine Medussa-snake-hair.

Another strategy employed was the use of video virtual reality screens.

The new facility features some really terrific displays.  Here are a few of my favorites.

This figure represents an example of the kind of patron who frequented the Baths at the time of the Romans.

This is what's left of a boar figure--see the diagram in the next photo.

This figure was identified as the three mother goddesses.

The goddess Luna

A mask used in temple ceremonies.

This is an example of Roman engineering to control overflow.

There was so much to take in, it's probably one of those places one needs to visit multiple times. We spent the bulk of the afternoon there and took in as much as we could before we decided it was time to head back to the car.

We left by way of the beautiful pump room, celebrated in Jane Austen's novel, Persuasion.

The Bath Abbey is right next door to the Baths.  I found the bas relief to be charming.

The city was still bustling as we made our way back to the car.

This young woman was "singing for her supper" in the square outside the Baths.  I'm not sure who was listening, but I found her voice lovely.

A little further up the road, we saw a man flying "the world's smallest kite".

We also saw this sculptor closing up shop.

We espied the Jane Austen Centre on our way up to our parking spot.

I noticed the gentleman posing with a visitor, so I decided to take a photo as well.

I started to stand on his right, but he admonished me to move to his other side so that his sword arm was free to defend my honor.

It was another wonderful day.