In which so many smiling Romans bathed

So then we come to Wednesday, which was our day in Bath.  We started things off by driving into Bath and heading straight for the Roman Baths.  They gave us audio guides and we went through the museum they had there and the parts of the Roman temple that was right next to the baths (pretty cool to see the steps that led to the front door of the temple still very much visible hundreds and hundreds of years later) and then of course the hot spring and the baths.

Ta da!  The Roman bath, filled with water from the spring just as it was when the Romans used it.

We then went up to the restaurant upstairs where they let us try some of the spring water from the hot spring. It left kind of a weird after taste in your mouth, and none of us finished our glass, except for Tara who only did it when the lady told us that hardly anyone ever finishes their glass, so that hardly counts.  Then we went to grab lunch, and I got a Cornish pasty!  So that's another one to check off my list of foods that I must eat in England.

I was so excited that I took a picture!

And it was incredibly delicious.  Then we went into the cathedral that was right on the square there, which was pretty neat.  In one part of the church you could see straight down to the Norman foundations, which was really really neat.  So we had the Romans and the Normans all in one day, plus whatever time period built the current cathedral that's there.  

After that we basically wandered around the city.  We went up to the Crescent, which is this big arch of houses that they've built and is a pretty famous part of Bath.  Then we went down to the Jane Austen center and looked around for a bit.  You could take a tour of a recreated Georgian house there, but seeing as Jane Austen didn't live there and that it cost five pounds we opted out.  Instead we went up the street (following the nifty guide book that someone had) to the house where Jane Austen actually lived.  It's now a dentist's office, but we stuck our heads in and asked the receptionist if Jane Austen lived there and she was all like yes she did, and how about I close the door so that you can take pictures in front of it.  

Number twenty five!

We also went over to the Assembly rooms where they used to hold balls and play cards and stuff.  Same rooms described in one of Jane Austen's books, but it's one that I haven't read yet, so I don't actually remember the name of it.

So then we headed back to Bristol for the night to buy dinner and so forth.  A group of us decided to go see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because it was playing in the theater in town and it was relatively cheap, so we got tickets to go see that.  I'd heard all the music before, so it was neat to see it in person and get a clearer view of the storyline, although the voice of the doctor was not ultra impressive.  He was difficult to understand.  Lucy was awesome though.  Before the play we grabbed falafels for dinner, another fantastic food that I had never tried before.

I know, I know, another picture of me just about to take a bite of something.  And falafels are of Middle Eastern origin and not British at all.  So what?

Well after Jekyll and Hyde we just were all really tired, so we went back to the hostel and stayed up and talked for a few more hours before finally all showering and going to sleep.  By the way, did I mention that the ventilation in these hostels was awful?  One person would take a shower and the whole room would be humid for the entire night.  We'd have to leave the window open all night and all day, and it would only open about two inches to get air in.  No fan for the bathroom you know.  But besides that our hostels were really nice and the beds were really comfortable, and there was enough space to shave in the shower, which is more than I can say for the ones at the center.  

Yeah, so started the day with seeing how the Romans bathed and ended the day with my own version of bathing.  I guess that's full circle.