Roman Baths of Bath!

After our group tour at the American Museum in Bath, we had free time on our own to wander and discover and see what we wanted to see.

One of the great things to do is purchase tour tickets ONLINE (avoiding the line outside of the baths) for the Roman baths, which also give you additional tickets to the Fashion Museum, and the Victoria Gallery which was featuring an exhibit by Kaffe Fassett and Candace Bahouth.  BONUS!

Being a complete history nut – I was so intrigued by the story of discovery and restoration of this historical site.

There is a legend that Bath was founded in 860 BC when Prince Bladud, father of King Lear, caught leprosy. He was banned from the court and was forced to look after pigs. The pigs also had a skin disease but after they wallowed in hot mud they were cured. Prince Bladud followed their example and was also cured. Later he became king and founded the city of Bath.

King Lear! And we’d just the day previous  left Stratford upon Avon, recognizable lines from Shakespeare still dancing in our heads.

Viewing the green waters of the bath from the second level, the Abbey just beyond.

I think the biggest help while touring the baths and museum areas were the headsets available in a multitude of languages.  

Items were numbered and all you had to do was punch in the number for the item you were viewing and listen.  

Play it again if you want to listen to it more than once.

Move at your own pace – and we did!

The museum also has holograms of folks dressed in Roman period garb doing things in a very Roman way as you find your way through the winding paths of the tour.

It was very well done, and I would love to see it again and listen to the OTHER versions of the tour through my headset.

Audio guides are available in twelve languages, with one especially for kids, one for people of all ages and another by Bill Bryson commenting on the Roman site.

Some of Bill Bryson’s comments on the baths complimented the “official” story. Others were totally Bryson. 

The temple was dedicated to the Roman goddess Minerva and a sculpture of her head is on display. 

Bryson said he likes the male heads but the females scare him and Minerva isn’t someone he would like to meet. 

He wonders how a civilization that could develop aquaducts, fountains, architecture, and war machines could have religious beliefs that were so “stupid.”  (LOL!)

When visitors to the bath wanted special favors from Minerva they would write their requests on a sheet of lead, fold it up and throw it into the pool. 

Several have been recovered and translated. Bryson was amazed by the petty vindictiveness of the requests. One asked that the person who stole his gloves have his eyes poked out at the temple.

These comments kept me chuckling, while bringing a real "human" aspect to the mystery of the Romans of that time.

I also really enjoyed the kids versions - plain and simple, and recorded to keep their interest while learning.

Trying to imagine ancient Romans here -

And you can drink the “healing waters” here!

But be prepared – it tastes like old copper pennies mixed with rust!

It was a great tour!

Back in time for our hexie session!

This trip was very much go go go go with not a lot of time for a stitching class, but we met in the bar area for an hour or so of hexie instruction thanks to the kind folks at paperpieces.com! They had sent me 40 little hexie rosette kits, enough to get our fingers wet. 

Many new English Paper Piecing fans were born this evening!

And in the morning we would leave the fine streets of Bath for London!

Yesterday was a quiet day of spending time with my dad.  I’m glad we made it a day early.

From what our son Jeff tells us, the storm is getting heavier as he, Sadie and the cats wait it out at home.  We live in north-central North Carolina, about 4 1/2 hours drive inland from the coast.  Our main threat is wind and rain that knock down trees, and when trees go down they take out the power, and it can be several days before power is restored should that happen.

I’m grate4ful that he was willing to stay behind so we didn’t have to kennel the animals to come to Mark’s funeral.

Today is a day of family arrival.  Some are driving, some are flying – My first job today is to swing by the airport and pick up my sister Mary and her hubby Kelly when they arrive at 1pm.

Evening visitation is tonight, funeral tomorrow.

It feels so unreal.

I will be taking the weekend off from posting. 

Quiltville Quote of the Day.

Grateful for friends who lift me up when I can't stand on my own.