Taking the Cure

Outside Bath Abbey

We were up and out early to catch a train to Bath. Again with the rolling past the glorious countryside. On arrival, we immediately dropped of the bags at the YMCA Bath (We will let you know if it is fun to stay there) and went straight to Sally Lunn’s. http://www.sallylunns.co.uk/ This purveyor of deliciousness is housed in one of the oldest houses in Bath. The bun is roughly the size of the plate it is served on, toasted and slathered in butter and various rich toppings. The cinnamon butter is perhaps the best thing on earth. The lower level is preserved as a baking museum and shows the kitchen as Sally would have found it in 1680.

Big breakfast at Sally Lunn's

After grossly overindulging, we headed to the Roman Baths & the Pump Room.   http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/ The line for tickets made it clear to us that this was the most popular place in Bath. Almost everything about the museum is perfectly done. The displays are informative but not wordy. The audio tour has 3 options: standard, Bill Bryson, and children’s. The children’s were fantastic! Very engaging and rife with gory detail.

The reconstruction of the area around the pool gives one a good feel for what the place would have been like. The water is a delicate jade color that is probably not as the Romans wanted it and that you are warned not to touch. (It has brain eating amoeba in it.) Still, pretty. The Sacred Spring and the objects found therein were most interesting. First, there are the more than 12,000 coins spanning hundreds of years of the Empire thrown in as offerings. Also recovered are about 130 “curse tablets”. 

The swimming pool at the Aquae Sulis

These are sheets of lead on which someone has inscribed an accusation against a person and a prayer that the gods will exact revenge on the claimant’s behalf. They all seem to be about stolen articles of clothing. When the plaintiff was not sure who had perpetrated the theft, they were kind enough to provide the gods with a list of suspects. Just before you leave the complex there is a fountain where you can sample the waters – not the contaminated ones (at least we assume not, but I am not sure why because it wasn’t posted anywhere). I’m sure it was fine.

Making friends at the bath house

Next we went over to Bath Abbey which rises picturesquely behind the baths. We walked in on a rehearsal for some kind of concert. An ensemble of adults were accompanying 2 children who were singing. There were also large groups of children from at least a dozen schools. We presumed that it was National Field Trip Day. Anyway, the Abbey is incredibly beautiful. The upper story of the sanctuary has clear windows which must let in a dazzling amount of light on a clear day. The stained glass windows in the lower story are as beautiful as any we have seen so far. However, the window at the altar end of the church is possibly the most extraordinary window we have ever seen. Not because it is the most beautiful (though it is gorgeous), but because of its history. In 1942 when Bath was bombed, this window was blown apart. We’re talking about a roughly 80X40 foot window, shattered. After the war, the window was restored using the glass which had been carefully collected and stored. The walls and floors are covered with graves and monuments dating back to the 1600s. It turned out that the children were not simply on a trip, they were there to rehearse also. Their voices were pretty amazing and we were most impressed by how well they followed directions from the conductor, all 140 of them.

The Circus

After the glories of the Abbey, we went on a walking tour of the town in order to bask in the Georgian loveliness of Bath. We went past the Royal Crescent, the Assembly Rooms, the King’s Circus, and an endless stream Jane Austen movie sets. K and her encyclopedic knowledge of the period narrated the architecture (servants’ entrances, most fashionable streets to live and shop, etc.). It was a lovely place to take some air and exercise.

One of the many windows in Bath Abbey

We returned to the YMCA to blog, write postcards, and journal. Dinner was had at the Saracen’s Head Pub, said to be the oldest in Bath, from 1703. They serve a marvelous baked camembert with toasted bread.
P.S. It was in fact fun to stay at the YMCA. They had the best showers and the best shower to guest ratio we have yet encountered.