The Roman Bath at Bath
The next morning, we were set to go see the Roman baths in the town of Bath. There were a lot of groups for this particular excursion. The theater, which was the place where everybody was gathered to get organized for their excursions, was pretty nearly full when we got there. When they started announcing the Bath excursions, I think half the people in the theater got up to go, but since we were part of that big group, and I don't like crowds, I may be a bit biased about that. Hubby and I had to make sure we got the same # pasted to our shirts so we'd be on the same bus.
And then came a long bus ride. I'm thinking about an hour and a half to get from the port to the center of Bath, where the bus dropped us off in a quarter circle 'bus stop' that took up at least half a block and was wide enough for 3 buses side by side.
After we all got off the bus, we were quickly marched down a narrow street of shops to a corner of a large square with benches, hurried diagonally across the square, and around the corner to the door of the Baths. The doorway was packed with people waiting to go in, and our guide had to make sure he handed out the tickets to people who were on his bus. We were given 3 hours to go through the whole thing, and were told that afterwards, the gift shop would let us out 'down the street by those columns'. I couldn't see any doorway down by the columns, but the guide had gotten away before I could ask any more questions.
Once we got in the building, we were given head phones with a keypad to type in the number of the area sign we were standing in front of, and a recorded voice would talk about that particular area of the building. Unfortunately, Hubby decided he couldn't listen to the head phones and take pictures at the same time.
We found ourselves on a balcony that surrounded and overlooked 2 large pools of water, kind of like fountains, but with no splashing displays. Unfortunately, it looked like these pools had not been cleaned out in a long time, the water was a sick green, and had bird feathers and other trash in it. It was not an appealing sight. There were 2 other rooms off this balcony, I think they were called the East Bath and the West Bath, but we didn't go to those. We had a limited time to get through this, and no idea just how big it was.
We walked around the balcony, taking pictures and listening to numbers, then we went downstairs to a museum-like area. Mostly, the museum was about the Romans who used the local hot springs to create the bath house.
Then we went outside again, and found ourselves under the balcony, on the same level as the bath pools. There was a Roman character there, in full costume, and Hubby got my picture standing next to her. I was surprised that the sick green water of the baths did not smell bad. Hot springs often carry dissolved minerals in the water, and that can lead to a 'yucky' smell in the air. It sure does in Yellowstone, when we visited there when I was a kid.
The day was hot; the air in the bath particularly humid. Happily, they had a small refreshment stand in the shade opposite the 2 pools, and they were able to take our credit cards. Hooray! We each got a small container of ice cream and ate it down. It helped cool us down a little, and took the edge off the hunger we were beginning to feel. Then we set off, sure we were nearly at the end of this adventure.
We took a wrong turn, and found ourselves in what looked like a dead-end cavern, while the earphones talked about the Romans using this area as a workout space. After that, I found somebody who worked there and asked, "How do we get out of here?" She put us on the correct path once again. That path took us through more caverns, some with hot water streaming through them, some where the path was elevated above the cavern floor, and you found yourself walking across glass. Or clear plastic. Made me nervous and very happy that the path had walls, though those were clear, too.
Finally, we found a wall full of cubbies, which was where we were suppose to deposit our headphones. Then up a few steps and into the gift shop. We looked around, but we don't buy a lot of souvenirs anymore, so before long, we stepped outside into the street.
I looked for the front door and the bath building. And didn't see it anywhere. Before I could start to panic, or wonder what to do next, someone started yelling in the street, saying things like the country is going to h*ll and I don't remember what all. I do remember thinking, "He sounds like a Trumper." Which didn't make sense, because we were in England, not the US. Hubby moved away from me, and I followed him to the corner, where he started talking to the dustman, who had stopped his work to listen to the yelling.
None of us had any clue what the Yelling Man was on about, but since we had this nice gentleman's attention, I asked how I could get to the front door of the bath house. If I could get there, I could find our way back to the bus stop. Once the dustman realized we were actually looking for a tour bus, he said, just go up this street. Three blocks and we'd be right at the bus stop. So we said thank you and started up the street.
Sure enough, after one block, we came to the square with the benches. We apparently had 15 or 20 minutes before our bus was due back, so we sat on one of the benches, even though it was in the direct, hot sunlight. At least, I sat down, Hubby kept wandering around, trying to give me a heart attack whenever I looked around and couldn't find him right away. But eventually, he came back and we decided to go look for our bus.
When we got to the bus stop, all half a block long and 3 buses wide, it was crowded with people looking for their bus. Happily, as soon as a bus got all its people aboard, it somehow inched its way out of the mess and onto the street and started back for the port. Eventually, our bus was able to jockey its way into the bus stop area, and we started climbing aboard. One couple was a little late getting back, and the tour guide raced down the street to try to find them, but found them at about the square with the benches, so we were able to head out as soon as those 3 got aboard.
Now for the race to get back to the port, and it really felt like we were racing, that we had gotten a late start back for the port. I don't know if the driver was taking a more direct route or what, but buildings I had noted on the way to Bath, I didn't see on the way back to port.
When we got to the port, there was a frenzy of buses all trying to get close enough to the ship to let their passengers off. For its part, the ship had 2 gangways open and were taking people in as fast as they could at both doors, but still there was a long long line for each of them. I had a terrible thought that the ship would suddenly stop letting people get on, and would shut up the gangways and leave us stranded there while it went on its merry way. Luckily, they didn't do that until Hubby and I were aboard. I assume they waited for everybody who was in line to get on.
I'm pretty sure we went in search of food after that, but I'm not sure where we went.
No comments:
Post a Comment