After a little more than a week in London, learning to traverse the maze of streets, tube lines, and bus routes, it was just about time for a change of pace. On the morning of May 29th, we met in the lobby of our hotel and, using our great knowledge of the tubes and such, made our way to Paddington Station (like the little bear guy!). There, we took a long tube ride from the hustle and hustle of London proper to the much smaller town of Bath!
Like I said, it was time for a change of pace. And Bath certainly provided it. The town still had the beautiful architecture and history of London but with a little less activity, car traffic, and uh… McDonalds. Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of people all around. However, the population lacked the rush and hurry that haunts most streets in London. One thing it didn’t lack was the tourists, oh which even our pretty large group was only a small percentage. Of course, these tourists were here, like us, to visit the Roman Baths.
I found the baths to be one of the most interesting pieces of history we saw on our trip. These baths have been used for thousands of years, the waters heated from a natural hotspring. The main pool and structures visible in the pictures beside were made by Roman engineers. Though there is evidence of cultures there even before the Romans using the spring and it’s waters. On our journey through the baths and the many objects on display, we all had auditory guides to which we could listen to at our own pace. Different rooms and exhibits would have their own audios that could be inputted by the numbers on top. One thing me and a few others realized about half-way through our trip was that the audio made for children was often much more fun and engaging than the normal one (I ended up using the audio for children for the remaining half).
My favorite piece of history that the baths and their caretakers have preserved are what people have thrown into them. The most obvious things that also help the different users of the baths be dated are coins. Whether they were thrown for luck, a wish, religious favor, or for the heck of it, plenty of people as far back as… well really far back… have thrown them into the baths.
Pieces of curses! (continued after pictures relating to goddess) 
“Head of Sulis Minerva” 
Emblem on the front of goddess’s temple 
Altar for worship and sacrifice 
The Haruspex Stone – after a sacrifice, the temple haruspex would use the organs of the animal to predict the future 
Curses! 
Curses! but zoomed out 
Curses! but zoomed in 
Ilaria looking at Curses! 
Visual for curses and their inscriptions 
“May the person who has stole Vilbia, from me become as liquid as water… who has stolen it: (a list of names)” 
“The person who has lifted my bronze cooking pot is utterly accursed. I give him to… spill his own blood into the vessel itself” 
“I have given to the goddess Sulis the six silver coins which I have lost. It is for the goddess to exact them from the names written blow: (three names)” 
“Do not allow sleep or health to him who has done me wrong… unless he reveals himself and brings those goods to your temple…”
My more specified favorite section of these would have to be the curses that were carved into lead or pewter, then tossed on into the sacred spring. The background information for this is that, as different people of different faiths used the baths, a deity developed for them named Sulis Minerva. Beside this text you will see pictures of some altars used for sacrifice and worship to this god (see some captions for additional info). Another ritual was to carve a complaint and toss it in. These were the curses. Usually, the curser would have had something stolen (or possibly even a person – see the “stolen Vilbia” curse) or have been wronged in some way. Then the curser would carve the names of suspects and possibly also the crime and/or the punishment they wish upon the perpetrator. Then they toss it in. I love learning about this sort of witchcraft or cursing and, as a result, this was my favorite part of the baths.
Above is also a slideshow of some images involving some grave sites or carvings left behind for the dead. Very cool!
All in all, the baths were a super interesting experience, but honestly, one of my favorite activities on the entire trip was what we did right after. Other than this steak that I had with Aleah and Ilaria, that was really yummy but not what I’m talking about. The thing I speak of was much more refined: the experience of true royalty.
Our Afternoon Tea at the Pump Room was one of my favorite experiences of the entire trip. I feel like the pictures largely speak for themselves. Some delicious treats, both savory and sweet, along with great tea and a live band playing beautiful soothing classical music was an unbeatable combo. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience, pinky out.
Today’s Squirt and Tucker special relates the tube ticket we got from this trip. I’m a very sentimental person, so I wind up keeping just about every show ticket and travel ticket I can. In this case, though the tube machine was supposed to steal away our return tickets from Bath, it allowed our group to keep them. And so, I pondered for a little while on how best to benefit from this fortunate situation. Two days later, I went to a matinee of Hadestown and realized I had the perfect opportunity to double the value of this little piece of the trip’s history. At the stagedoor for the show, after getting my Squirt-Selfies(™) with the actors, I had them all sign the return ticket. Now Squirt and I have an extra little bit of memorabilia for both a wonderful trip and a wonderful show!
Theatre in London U of A 