We stayed in Bristol, but we really didn't see much of it. It wasn't a place we really wanted to see, but it was much cheaper than Bath and within 15 minutes of it by train. The only cool Bristol thing we did was see Rory. He came over on Thursday afternoon from some place in Devon to hang out with us. We ate a late lunch, wandered all over Bristol, looked in at the cathedral, and ended up yapping in a pub. It was awesome, and we finally had someone to ask all of our questions about England. Have we been tipping correctly? (Pretty much, maybe a little too much.)Which button do you press on the toilet? (He can't figure it out either.) Should people walk on the left side of the sidewalk and stairs? (It's a crazy free-for-all, mostly.) And finally, why the hell didn't you go to Oxford? (Apparently, British people make stupid mistakes in their youths as well. Why didn't I go to Oxford, after all?) We were so glad to see Rory again, and it was even more fun than the last time.
Each day in Bristol, we took the train over to Bath. The first day, after leaving London, checking into our hotel in Bristol, and going back over to Bath, we just ate and wandered. Bath has an amazing amount of shopping, and after this first day, we managed to avoid those areas. :)
The next day, Thursday, we went to the Roman Baths in the morning before we saw Rory. They were bigger and more extensive than I remembered, and it was very interesting. Going to see them with an engineer made a difference in the focus; I do not remember Mama and I spending so much time looking at sluice gates and pipes. :) But seeing those things closely made me appreciate even more the amazing building abilities of the Romans.
We especially enjoyed the section on curses. Apparently, a lot of folks came to the baths (dedicated to Sulis Minerva) in order to curse people who stole from them or messed with them in some way. They would have a scribe write their curse on a piece of metal and then throw it into the spring. Archaeologists have found a lot of them, and they go something like this: "Dear Sulis Minerva, someone stole my gloves from the baths. I think it was . Please make the culprit pay for this crime with his blood, his eyes, his fertility, and the lives of his children. Amen." We had fun reading them, and I loved trying to figure out the Latin. I threw a coin into one of the baths along with a curse for Sulis Minerva; we'll see how effective she is. :)
Friday, I went to Bath much earlier than Aaron for a Jane Austen day all to myself. I walked by the Circus, the Royal Crescent, the gravel walk, and down Gay Street (all mentioned in her books). I toured the Jane Austen Center which is primarily about her life in Bath. I bought ALL the cool Jane Austen souvenirs. I got a Jane Austen Choose Your Own Adventure Book, a quiz book so Aaron can entertain me with Jane Austen trivia on the train, her History of England By a Partial, Prejudiced, and Ignorant Historian (a delightful parody of schoolroom history books on the monarchy), and graphic novel versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. The people at the Center were all very knowledgeable and all in period dress, and when I went back outside onto the regular streets, I was a bit disappointed to be in 2011.
Aaron went to Bath in the afternoon to try to go to the Hershel Museum (the guy who discovered Uranus, hee, hee), but it was closed for all of the holiday season. Darwin's house too, except for Dec 31, so we might still make that. The scientists aren't making a very good showing in England. I'm so glad that he got to go to the History of Science Museum in Oxford. Rory reminded me that Lyra went there in His Dark Materials and that she met Mary Malone there. It says something about my interests that that fact made it twice as appealing to me.
We left Bristol and Bath on Christmas Eve, heading back to London to spend out Christmas in a much nicer hotel that we would usually get, since there is nothing open and not much to do. I'll blog about our Christmas in another post.
Happy Christmas everyone!
