Saturday we went to an old Roman city called Bath. It was the highlight of our trip here so far. This city houses one of the finest Roman bathhouses in the world. The city has natural hot springs that was thought to have healing powers. It was thought to be founded some 2800 years ago. The Romans established a town there in AD 44. They built the extensive bath complex we toured and a temple there. We got to see the old temple entrance in the museum at the bathhouse.
We started off the day with a picnic lunch by the Avon River. It was partly cloudy a little windy and cold. The view was really nice were we sat. They had these extremely long narrow boats on the river that were docked by our bench. We couldn’t figure out exactly what they were for, but this is what it looked like. One of the boats pulled in while we ate. It had a few people on the boat and they docked there. As we walked by after lunch, we could see that inside the boat they were sitting at a table eating lunch with china and all. Further down the boat it looked like there were really small bedrooms with beds and also a bathroom. We were wondering if you rented the boat by the day and stayed on it and went on a tour up and down the river. Not sure but that was my guess. They boats had names and number on them.
After lunch we walked down the river and climbed some stairs that led up to a city street with shops on it. We looked at some shops and I found a jacket because all I brought was a lightweight coat and it is a little bulky for taking on and off when we are sightseeing. Bath had a lot of people in it. It is a very popular tourist city. We heard many languages while passing people of the streets. We headed for one of the churches called St. Michaels Church. It was a small pretty old church. Our guidebook didn’t have any information on this one. There was a tea room inside (this seems to be the norm). There are a lot of tea rooms here. We have one in our town square called Lily’s that we are going to visit one day when we are rushing to sightsee somewhere.
Something I have failed to mention. Every time we go somewhere with Paul, he is leaving a trial of things. We are constantly back tracking to find something. Most of the time he is leaving socks, but other times it is blankets, toys, hats etc. I think we have left a sock in almost every town we have visited. That stands true for the weekend. We found a baby gap to get him more since it was so cold and I failed to check his bag for extra socks. We did buy him shoes at Asda (Wal-Mart) and thought that might fix the problem, but we just ended up back tracking for his shoe first thing. We will just start calling him Little Red Riding Hood.
After this church we walked to the largest church in Bath called Bath Abbey. It was very impressive. This church was built between 1499 and 1616 and was the last great medieval church raised in England. While in the church I read that 3,000 – 4,000 bodies are buried under the church. As you walk around you can see flat grave stones that mark people’s graves with names and years on them. It is kind of a creepy feeling. One of the windows contains 56 scenes in the life of Jesus Christ.
Here is another window that shows the crowning of the first effective King of all England, Edgar in 973.
This was a very large impressive church and we spend a good bit of time walking around and viewing it. When you enter through the main doors, you are looking at the main seating area. In the middle of the church is a section with wooden carved pews sitting sideways. This is where the choir sits and on the other side of the choir is a seating area for the more influential guests. It looks like these were/are family pews for the wealthier members. Here is a picture of the side of one. It looks like there are family crests on the sides of these pews.
When you look up at the top of the church and see the wonderful architecture it is quite breathtaking. There are tombs around the church for the prior Bishops. I bought a couple of things at the gift shop and asked the lady if you could tour the Roman Baths. She said, “Oh yes.” I asked her where they were located and she pointed out the door, directly across the street. I was a little embarrassed, but happy we didn’t have to walk far. So many of the buildings look like pieces of history it is hard to tell sometimes.
We waited in line to get into the baths. While standing in line we met a couple behind us that were from San Antonio. I used to live in San Antonio (small world). They had a great set up for touring. We had to park the stroller (pushchair), but they had these backpacks that you could put the babies in because of all the stairs. It was great. I carried Paul the whole time we were there (maybe 2 hours) and it never hurt my back. It was like a backpack when you are long distance hiking. All the weight was distributed on your hips and no pressure put on your back. It made the experience so much better than having to carry him or putting him in the front carrier. I was also excited about the audio tour they had. Many places give you a portable device that you can punch in your language number and listen to the information about the exhibits you are viewing. This audio guide had the voice of Bill Bryson giving information. He wrote one of my favorite books called, “A Walk in the Woods.” I thought that was kind of neat.
The water temperature of the springs is a constant 46 degrees Celsius. The 2000 year old baths are one best-preserved ancient Roman Spas in the world. You can’t get in these baths anymore, but they do have a newer spa called Thermae Bath Spa where you can enter the water. We didn’t go there since Paul couldn’t go in water. The largest and prettiest was the King’s Bath. This was built around the original sacred spring where 1.5 million liters of hot water still pour into the pool every day.
After the Bath Museum we walked around town and looked in a few shops. Then we headed for the Jane Austin House. She is one of England’s famous authors. By the time we got there the museum was closing so we just looked at the gift shop. Even on Saturdays the shops and attractions close early. It was about 5:00pm. We found a place to eat and then walked back to the car to drive home. We got home a little after 9pm…tired but happy we had such a great day. Paul was the perfect baby the whole time we were running around town. We were able to see what we wanted….he was just along for the ride.
Sunday we decided to attend church at Winchester Cathedral since we wanted to see that church and town anyway. We used our GPS to get us there. It took us on some narrow scary back roads. Once we got into town, it took us down a very narrow two way street with barely enough room for 1 car to get down. There was actually a car coming the other way and wouldn’t wait for us. They insisted on going at the same time…I thought we were going to scrape sides. John just stopped and let the woman try to get by. It ended up being a dead end street. We could see the Cathedral, but couldn’t find out how to get there or a place to park. It is not like in the states where churches have parking lots for its members. We had to find a public parking lot and then walk there. By the time we arrived at the church the service was more than half over. We sat in the park and ate our picnic lunch and waited for the church to open for viewing.
To be continued.......
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