Splish Splash, I Was Taking A Bath

Yesterday, our group had the opportunity to take the train to Bath, England. Bath is home to many historical monuments, and the Roman Baths are one of many of them. The train ride to bath lasted for about an hour and half. It was very nice to look out the window and see the countryside of England. When we arrived in Bath I was relieved to visit a smaller city than London. Bath is significantly smaller with less road traffic. However, I feel as though the traffic of people walking around was much heavier than that of London. Perhaps I am wrong. Either way, it just felt like there were too many people for the little space that was available to walk around at. I also thought that there were more chain stores that we have in America rather than the locally owned little shops that London has. When we got to Bath I enjoyed a donut and coffee. Afterwards I visited the Jane Austen house. Jane Austen actually used to live in Bath and she very much enjoyed her stay there. The famous Mary Shelley also lived in Bath. Many people in our group visited the museum about her but I did not. I quite enjoyed the Jane Austen museum. It was a much shorter tour than I expected. A lady dressed up in Regency era clothing spoke to us about the Austen family and then we made our way through the museum. The museum had the original copies of her works as well as facts about her. There were even displays of clothing worn during her time. There was one fun part of the museum where tourists could dress up in dresses and bonnets and have their photo taken with a statue of Mr. Darcy. My favorite part of the entire tour though was the writing room. Here, they had notes of paper with a quill and ink to write with. After visiting the Jane Austen house, I finally met up with the rest of the group so that we could tour the Roman Baths. The water was very green and it was so beautiful against the brown stone of the building that surrounded it. The Ancient Roman Baths contain natural spring water which still flows in the River Avon. The main purpose of the baths was to allow the Romans to purify themselves. Most Romans living in the city went to the bath house every day to cleanse themselves. They used to put olive oil on their skin and then rubbed it with a metal scraper called a strigil. I was very interested in some of the many facts that I learned during my tour. For example, the Romans conversed with the Goddess of the Baths, Minerva. The Goddess Minerva was an integral element of the Roman Baths. People would visit the baths regularly to beg for justice from the famous Goddess Minerva. They would go as far as to bring her precious gifts such as jewels, and would also throw coins into the sink to ask for her blessing. The visitors would also ask the goddess to take care of their family and themselves. For those who have lost an item or have an item stolen, the Goddess Minerva was the ultimate destination. They would go and ask the Goddess to cause a miracle so that their item could be found.  Moreover, the meeting with Minerva would guarantee that the thief would be punished! I also thought that it was pretty neat that the Roman baths are home to many precious items because of the Romans’ devotion to Minerva. Multiple things have been found in the Spring: brooches, rings, bracelets, vases, and more than 12,000 coins! They were all thrown in by Romans as gifts to honor the Goddess Minerva. Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Bath. It was a nice change of scenery. I will admit however, I did not enjoy tasting the spring water that they gave tourists from the fountain. I tried it with all of my friends and we all gagged at the taste. The only way that I can explain it is that it tasted like the smell of Easter egg dye water. I actually felt quite queasy after. To be honest, I was hoping that I would get violently ill from the water so that I could sue the Romans and be filthy rich for the rest of my life.

Don’t Touch the Water

In yesterday’s blog post, I had mentioned that we traveled to Bath. The city itself was gorgeous, and I would love to go back especially to see the Jane Austen and Mary Shelly Museums as well as the Royal Crescent. There was a beautiful park next to the river that a few of us girls went to to hang out, and then I had one of the best Paninis I’ve ever eaten at an Italian restaurant called Rosario’s (if you have to eat gluten free and are in Bath this place makes all of their food gluten free upon request).

Decided it would be fitting to pose in front of “The Architect” Restaurant lol

Then we toured the Roman Baths. It wasn’t what I was expecting because it felt very similar to our current day gym complex with a public pool, which I guess is what it was for the Romans back in the day, but I expected it to be a little more natural. My favorite part of the tour was getting to see some of the unearthed architecture. There was one spot in particular where the floor had been destroyed/removed and there were a bunch of pillars on the ground. From my most recent systems class in architecture I learned that the pillar system was the Roman’s advanced ventilation system. They would pump warm air into the area around the pillars, which would in turn heat the floors and therefore the space above it. It was a pretty cool detail to get to see up close.

We were also told very explicitly to not touch the water. During the time of the Romans, there was a room over the main pool blocking the sunlight. Because the roof was destroyed, the pool now gets full light and grows bacteria like crazy. One guy told us that a girl died from drinking the water.

Overall, Bath was a really cool place, and I would love to go back to explore more in depth.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time ❤

Day 8- A Day Trip to Bath

  1. We all ran around and tried to find our train cart/seats before finally just sitting somewhere random on the train. 
  2. Upon arriving in Bath I found out there is a Jane Austen museum and a Mary Shelley museum. A few of us promptly got tickets. 
  3. While waiting for our ticket slots, we stumbled into a cute local coffee shop. That had loads of vegan and gluten free pastries, along with ice lollies (this what popsicles are called here). 
  4. I ordered my first tea since being here, and it was piping hot and I burnt my tongue upon the first sip but it was a tropical fruit flavor and it was worth the burnt taste buds. 
  5. The Mary Shelley museum was a fun and quirky experience, as they had a little haunted maze in the basement to cap off the tour. 
  6. The Jane Austen museum was quite immersive, as the tour guide we had was “Elizabeth Bennet”. 
  7. We ended the Jane Austen tour by dressing up in typical 1800 garb and posing with Mr. Darcy.
  8. We toured the Roman Baths, which was a fun and an immersive experience. As we got to listen to the little walkie talkie phones, that led us through each exhibit. 
  9. They told us we weren’t allowed to touch the real bath water, but I might have broken the rules. I also drank some of the spa water that was offered at the end of the tour, I was the only one that thought it tasted good. 
  10. We ended the day by seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Musical, which is also how Rebel Wilson also ended her day. 10/10 experience and show!

The Ancient Roman Baths took us back to a time where going to a public bath was a luxury. That the population of Rome took pleasure in rooms with different water temperature and pressure, places to read and socialize, and to worship their gods. My favorite part of the Roman Baths was of course the spa aspects (I’m hoping all of the water I drank and touched will rejuvenate me for years to come) but also the old statues and involvement of the gods and goddesses within the Roman Culture. The head of Sulis Minerva was my favorite, as it was the most preserved and it has a very early discovery meaning that these baths were not only for relaxation but also for realignment and rejuvenation within their religion. The Minvera head is only one of two other fragments known. This head would have been within Minvera’s own temple beside the Sacred Spring, so that she could look over the Temple’s courtyard to the great altar. Sacrifices would have been made for and in front of Minvera.

Overall the city of Bath had an overall quantness that I enjoyed so much, and even though there was still the same amount of hustle and bustle in London as in Bath, there seemed to be a smaller feel to the city. It felt like stepping back into history and walking through a town that was built ages ago. There was so many parks, restaurants, museums, and experiences that I wanted to do and see in Bath that I didn’t have enough time to do, so I think that I will have to come back. I have a little list of things that I need to come back and see and do. 

A Girl Just Needs To Touch Some Grass

Going to Bath was the escape I needed. I am a simple southern girl that needs some grass, water, and fruit and I’ll have the best day ever, so entering this beautiful town outside of London was so calming for me. The train ride over seeing all the suburbs and then entering the countryside with farms lining the railroad made my heart so full. The wavy tall grass in the wind was insanely beautiful to watch as we shuttled across the plains. When we finally got to Bath, we first went to the Parade Gardens near the River Avon and immediately Alyssa and I let our dogs (translation: toes) out in the grass. We saw our first green and blue waters of England yayyy! Haha, sorry River Thames but you were exceeded by the beautiful waters of Bath.  

In the actual Bathhouses of the Ancient Romans, I was reminded of how advanced their civilization was in its time. Seeing the different cool and hot spring pools that were fixtured to match the necessity of the particular location was ridiculously cool. Now I know how to make a hot tub. You just need a hot spring and some stacks of brick and rock to keep the pool heated. Thank you to the Romans. (I believe that may be the first time anyone has thanked them, HA!)  

But in all seriousness, I was impressed by this ancient country clubhouse. The Roman people enjoyed their privileges and enjoyed making places in which they could worship Minerva and relax in a hot pool. I particularly enjoyed the longevity of this bathhouse. I do not believe I can even fathom that the rock and stone I was walking on was 2,000 years old. They sure knew how to make things last. I respect them immensely for that. Although they were a society that reveled in destruction and becoming the largest empire in the world, I do appreciate their want to make sure their name was remembered and doing so in the ways they knew how. With invention. Their gods, albeit real or not, drove these men and women to greatness. Their fear and loyalty to their gods I believe is what made them great. A man is only great if he has something to live for. If he has passion that keeps his feet on the ground and a wish to move forward in history, I do not see how anything, but success can come from that kind of strength. Believing in something and believing in something that is greater than you gives mankind a part of that godly strength. The Romans wanted to please their gods and their rulers, and I find that without a need to do, most people do not do. And for the Romans, at any time an unexpected curse could come down from the heavens and that pushed them to be great. That pushed them to do and be pioneers in the ancient world.  

These baths are just a small idea of how great this society really was. I know a pool is not so astonishing to us now, but for these men I wonder how it felt to manipulate water and be the keeper of a natural spring that their hands bended to their own will. Bath gave me hope in an odd way. Hope that good things do come from bad people. That bad people are not all bad, but there are always redeeming qualities to a person or a people group. My final score for our day in Bath: 9.5/10. My trip there was beautiful and my adventure to Kennington to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was so worth it. My most favorite show I have seen this entire trip. And Rebel Wilson was in the audience whaaaaat?? My only deduction of -.5 is for my day starting at 7:58a.m. and ending at 12:35a.m. I was a tired puppy.  

5/31: Bath time with Frankenstein’s Monster

So, we visited the Ancient Roman Baths in Bath, England and it was a very fun day trip. Personally, the Roman Baths themselves were a little bit underwhelming, but I think that is mostly due to my already having visited them before with my parents a few years ago. They had not changed much, but finding out that all the walls which were built to show scale were not attached to the ruins but hanging from the ceiling was pretty interesting and something that I did not pick up on during my first visit. My biggest critique with the Bath’s is that the recordings that play at various stations dragged on and on. Some of them were upwards of five minutes and it was very hard to retain the information that was being dumped on me (Amelia recommended switching to the kid’s version, which was much more entertaining and I feel like I learned more from those recordings than the “adult” ones.) The few hours that we got to walk around the city of Bath, however, were absolutely phenomenal. The group I was with went through the Mary Shelly Museum, which was mostly about Frankenstein and his Monster, and that was one of the coolest things I have done while abroad. It was very touristy, but learning about Mary and Percy Shelly and their tragic history was fascinating. My favorite part, though, was learning about the history of Frankenstein in Pop-Culture, from his first film appearance in 1910 to more recent stories like I, Frankenstein and even the theatrical adaptations of the story (one of which included Benedict Cumberbatch who alternated playing Frankenstein and his monster in the 2013 stage play.) There was a book accurate animatronic of the monster in the Laboratory Room which was huge and as the lighting in the room shifted, the expression on his face did as well and I found that to be extremely cool to watch. The museum was also showing the 1910 silent film in the attic, and we sat and watched the entire movie, with snacks provided. The tour ended with a haunted house in the basement, which was very fun and a great way to end it. After the Museum, I got a sandwich from a tiny shop down the road for only 5 pounds, and the owner of the shop was a super nice guy who sliced the tomatoes by hand as he made the sandwiches. It was one of the best meals I have had in England. Overall, the trip to Bath was an awesome time and I could have spent another five hours there, just walking around and seeing the town. 10/10 Highly Recommended. 

The Bath water needed a bath…

Yesterday we visited Bath, England, and I was quite surprised. This small area is about a 2 hour train ride away from our “home” in London. Off the back I got good vibes when we arrived because the exit had a huge Burger King ad on it. I knew then and there we were saved. No…I’m kidding…well..kind of. When we walked out of the station I was surprised to see many familiar shop and candy stores. A group of us wanted to grab some food first before exploring, but nothing was open until 1pm. So, we settled for a snack at a coffee and donut shop with some others. I had a really great cinnamon donut and a sip of Emily’s bitter latte. We decided to walk around to look for some more food places and we came across a little cafe called “Rosario’s”. I sent a photo to the other group because it looked a great gluten free option. We went in and ordered. I got a delicious Chicken pesto panini and the coconut cauliflower soup. After lunch, Molly and I headed to the park to sit and people watch.

The park was very interesting because you had to pay one pound to enter which I thought was so dumb. Nevertheless, we went in and walked around, looked off onto the river, and sat on a bench just taking in the great weather. We tried to go to a cathedral, but there was a service happening so we couldn’t go in. When it came around three o’ clock we thought it would be best to head up to the meeting grounds so we can go into the Roman Bath Exhibit.

When entering the Roman baths we were given little phones that guided us through the tour of the museum. One thing that I learned on this tour was that the water in the baths were known to be healing. The water was to have healing powers that helped cure certain diseases. The son of the King of England had leoprosy and after many failed treatments nothing helped. He went into one of the baths and after being in it it seemed to cure him. It was very cool to learn, because they soon believed the place was very sacred after that.

After leaving you got to taste some of the hot spring water that would’ve been used in that time period. That water was so disgusting and warm (due to it being in the earth). I never want to taste something like that again, I felt like I could’ve gotten sick if I drank anymore. We left back to the train station to go back home. The train ride back wasn’t bad, I just watched a Terri Joe live and listened to music. Overall, great day and good time exploring with friends.

Taking a Bath

Bath has been one of my favorite stops on our trip so far. The city is so beautiful and has a slower pace than London, so it made me feel at peace. My favorite thing we did was go sit at Parade Gardens. It was a pound to enter, but it was a beautiful park next to the river and we got to run around and take in the sun. We also wandered into a market that we saw by chance and found stalls full of unique clothing and knick-knacks. There was one full of the most colorful yarn, and as someone who crochets I was filled with so much excitement. We also went to a cafe and got the best pasta. There were funny jazz versions of pop songs playing and the energy was perfect.

Being at the Roman Baths was one of the first times I truly took in that I was standing in a place with thousands of years of history. Being able to touch different pieces of architecture from so long ago was profound. I think the thing that made it real for me was the smell. The ruins inside of the rooms we walked over smelled horrendous, but that helped me confirm just how old they are. I enjoyed getting to see the different offerings they had on display that people would give to their gods. I hated trying the water though. I was excited to try it since I found out it was an option, but when I did I definitely gagged on it and spit it out. If I was a Roman who had to drink that every day I wouldn’t make it.

The energy in Bath compared to London is a lot calmer. I could spend a lot of time hanging out in Bath and just enjoying being alive, compared to in London where I feel like I need to be going non-stop. I loved our trip and want to go back whenever I can.

Splish Splash

Yesterday we took our first day trip out of the city, and our destination was the once Roman city of Bath. We took the tube to Paddington station where we unfortunately spent very little time, as we had to immediately attempt to board the train. I say attempt because we all had reserved seats, but apparently British folk are just as confused as us and it ended up being a free for all of who sits where. The random girl I sat next to was watching Grey’s Anatomy, but sadly I didn’t get to see if the patient in the episode got her rare blood transfusion or not 😦

The train itself was alright, I like a good train and this one was reasonably comfortable, but I didn’t get a good view out of the window unfortunately. But what I did see of Bath coming into the city made me really excited to explore. Bath is so hilly and the buildings really follow the landscape, making it a really beautiful place to wander. Some of us went to the Mary Shelley museum in town where we saw all things Frankenstein, including a screening of the 1910 film and a haunted house in the basement. Then we went and got some sandwiches from a small restaurant that was really great apart from the 90 degree temperature inside, I don’t know how that man works there all day.

Finally we got to see the titular feature of the town, the site of the Roman baths, and they were cool to see. I found the town surrounding them to be more interesting than the baths themselves, but there were some fun parts like a really nice tour guide we talked to for a bit or the amount of phone related jokes we could make because of their “award winning audio tour”. Then there were some not so fun parts, like the old underground bath smell or the end of the tour when you can taste the water, which has so much iron that it tastes bloody and is so warm that it feels like pee.

Apart from the kidney stones I’ll probably get from all the minerals I drank in that sip, the trip to Bath was really fun, a little exhausting but definitely worth it.

bath!

The Curious day trip to Bath

Yesterday was a very full day! We got out to an early start, we left the hotel around 9:30 am and didn’t get home until 11:15 pm. We took a few tubes to get to Paddington train station and then we caught a train to Bath. We almost didn’t make it on the train due to our tubes running a bit slow so we had to race to catch our train to Bath, AND THEN, we couldn’t figure out what coach we were supposed to be in so we almost missed getting on the train! But everything worked out just fine!

Once we got to the city of Bath we were free to explore until 3:15 because we had an appointment to go in to Roman baths at 3:30, there were so many stores and restaurants there that it was kind of hard to pick a place to eat because I wanted everything! A group of us just settled for a doughnut and coffee. After that, Lily Bea and I ventured over to the Jane Austen house and did the tour. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about Jane Austen and her life. After the museum tour we still had a bit of time and so we just walked around the town and looked at all the architecture, I think it was really cool to see especially because of how long these buildings have been there.

Once we all met up at 3:15 we ventured into the Roman bath! They gave us devices so that we could learn about all the different sections at our own pace which I thought was very interesting and is a good idea if you wanted to move at a different pace than everyone else. It was very interesting to see what it was like back then and how people lived because living in this time it’s hard to imagine what it looked like and how they did things, but here you could actually see what it was like. I think that my favorite part was seeing the statues of the Romans that were surrounding the second floor of the bath when you were looking down. They said that they put them there just so that it would look more Roman, and I liked it when I was on the bottom floor looking up it added a nice touch so I wasn’t just looking up at the people on the top looking down at the water. When we got to the end of the tour there was water that was safe to drink, and so I went for it. Bad idea, it tasted like the smell of rotten eggs and sulfur and it was warm. After drinking it, I gaged and said “It tastes as bad as it smells” I will not be doing that again!

After the Bath tour we caught the train back to the city of London and some of us spontaneously decided to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, it was a great show! It made you feel all the emotions, and I loved how each actor played more than one instrument and more than one character during the show. I would highly recommend this show to anyone! The set and the use of set pieces was amazing, there were trap doors in the floor and the set pieces they used were just crates and were used for many purposes. I also loved the lighting and the sound effects I think they brought the show together very well. 

Overall, I really enjoyed our time at Bath, but I have seen it twice now once with my family a few years ago and then yesterday. I would recommend going to see it if you haven’t because I think that it is a good experience I just don’t think I need to see it again. The only advice I would give to any first timer is DON’T DRINK THE WATER AT THE END!!!! Or if you do make sure to have a backup drink with you.

I think i get shakespeare now

A couple days ago we journeyed across the Thames to see the Globe’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and going into the show I had my doubts, but those were quickly proven wrong. I’m not the biggest Shakespeare guy, I find consuming his plays as literature to be a difficult experience, but I have never had the chance to see it produced, so I was willing to give this a chance. I mean, if you’re gonna see Shakespeare, where better than the Globe to do it? Anyways, I ended up being blown away by the show, I really think it was one of the best pieces of theatre that I have ever seen. Like I expected, it took a minute for my ear to adjust to Shakespeare, but once it did I was reassured that the reason I have not enjoyed Shakespeare before now is because reading it just sucks, it’s meant to be performed and heard. On that note, the acoustics of the Globe theatre were really interesting because even when an actor was faced fully away from me I could still hear them at pretty much the same volume as when I was being directly performed too. 

Now onto the show itself, for the most part I absolutely loved it. The costumes were pretty when I first saw them but then I realized how weird they got, like why were they wearing Docs? But the acting was phenomenal, I particularly loved the choice to make Puck scary, it’s not something I would have thought of if I were producing this and it was so good for this production. Along that line the moments when Puck simultaneously delivered Lysander & Demetrius’s lines as if they were under her control was really cool to see. Also, even though it was limited there were some cool scenic elements, for instance the net that was pulled out of the trapdoor in the stage that Titania used to sleep in was a really successful choice. I could definitely go on about the show, but the point is that it was very good, that surprised me, and now I think I am a Shakespeare fan.

One of the other things we did recently was visit the Tate Modern museum, something I knew that I would like going in. There were so many interesting pieces and exhibits in there (there was a paid exhibit for Mondrian that I’m thinking of going back to see), but of all of them there were two that stood out a lot. One was a small exhibition of pieces by artist CY Twombly. The pieces were all inspired by and named for the Roman god of wine Bacchus, and they consisted of these large canvases with sweeping and seemingly random red brush strokes, all meant to convey the sense of intoxication and freedom that painting can share with Bacchus. Personally I loved the scale of the pieces and really saw a beauty in the movement of the strokes and the ways in which they mixed with the off-white base coat of paint on the canvas

The other piece that stood out was called “BLUE PURPLE TILT 2007” by artist Jenny Holzer. This piece featured a series of LED columns – which obviously caught my lighting design keen eye – which were displaying countless phrases from a range of meanings and origins. The phrases would scroll from the bottom to the top of the columns, all while the entire thing was flashing really quick, making it a visually captivating scene for me. I almost felt like I couldn’t look away, and it really kept me engaged with the piece in a unique way.

So, in conclusion, I just like art.