Just Me: Day 13

Today was another long but exciting day. Emelia, Kendra, Jesse, and I were the only people from our group of 15 that had signed up for a day trip to Bath. We all got up at 7 and met our RA in the lobby from where she took us on the Tube to Kensington to meet up with the students from that campus. There was about 100 of us total, so we split up onto two separate buses and then were on our way. The trip took about two and a half hours, and the bus stopped at a rest station about halfway on our trip. The bus trip wasn't as pretty as the one I took from Madrid to Barcelona, as this one consisted mostly of trees, but once we got to the countryside in Bath it was absolutely beautiful. I was really glad that I got to see the countryside in England because it looked so picturesque and looked as if it came from a movie.

Once we got to Bath, we split up into 4 groups of 25, and each group had a private tour guide. He walked us around Bath and told us the history behind everything and showed us where Jane Austen used to live. There was also a Jane Austen festival happening this same weekend so a lot of people were dressed up as either characters or just costumes from that era. Basically Bath was created by Romans who had settled in England, and a man of the name John Wood created the whole city's architecture and layout. The Bath House itself was created as a part of a temple to the goddess Minerva. There was also a myth of the springs near the Bath House saying that a man who had leprosy was exiled to the springs to take care of pigs. The pigs then contracted leprosy as well, but the man noticed that they were healed after bathing in the springs. The man then bathed in the same waters and became healed, so people then moved to that area and created a bath house and turned it into a place of worship as well.

After the walking tour, our group was told to meet back in an hour for our entrance to the Bath House. We went to get lunch, and I got a Cornish pasty which had cheese, peppers, tomatoes, basil, and other vegetables inside of a pufffed pastry. They heated it up and it was so good. The only problem with local places is that none of them take credit cards, or museums or other places won't take cash if it is less than five pounds, which stinks if I just want to buy a postcard or something. After eating, we walked around to take pictures, and watched some people sing. One man was actually singing popular country songs, which I did not expect. I didn't think Darius Rucker's 'Wagon Wheel' was popular in England, but apparently it was. We were back at the meeting spot early, and were the first ones there. Now, this is where we all got upset at the disorganization of the tour guides. The tour guides knew how many kids were in each group, but only bought tickets for the number of people who were there at the exact time he said. However, kids are always late, so he bought a fewer amount of tickets needed. He passed the tickets around ,and somehow three out of the four of us were shorted, when we were the first ones there. Jesse waited with us, but our tour guide said we had to wait to the next group which was ten minutes later so that tour guide could buy us tickets. We did that, and we were counted, yet once again there was not enough tickets. I don't understand why they didn't just buy as many tickets as there were people on the bus. But it was frustrating because people who came in late took tickets before we did. The new tour guide was really rude to us and yelled at us for not being on time, when we were the first ones, but luckily our previous tour guide stood up for us and made late kids give us their tickets so we made it on the tour group, which was lucky because the other kids had to wait another hour, and there wouldn't be enough time for them to go through the whole tour.

The tour was self-guided via audio devices, similar to what I was given at Churchill's War Rooms yesterday. I really like them as they keep the crowds moving and it also gets hard to read the signs. There was a lot of different things to listen to as there was a brief overview, then you could opt to listen to a historian's interpretation which I found interesting. The Bath Houses themselves turned out to be larger than expected. I had thought we were just going to see one bath and thats all. Instead, there was a whole museum talking about the life of the people and how people used to throw in written curses against people into the baths in hopes that Minerva would grant that curse upon another person. There were also pieces of statues that used to be there and coins found and other artifacts. The main spring was shown but also the cold baths and other rooms were displayed. At the end of the tour, everyone was allowed to take a sample of the spring water in hopes that it provided good health, but it tasted like warm pennies which was kind of gross.

The way back home was longer, and we were all starving by the time we made it back to Kensington. We knew we had to eat there, because everything closes at about 6 in Richmond, and it was past that. We found a rather cheap restaurant, and we each ordered a pizza and ate the entire thing. This was considering we hadn't had breakfast (except fruit I stole from the dining hall) and lunch was small. I like restaurants in Britain because the tip is included usually with the meal so the price doesn't seem as bad when I think about it. Also side note: I bought a guard solar powered thing for my car in Bath today and it is the cutest thing ever. I meant to write that above but it's too dark in my room to scroll up. Anyways, after supper we took the Tube back to Richmond, where I had to top up my Oyster Card again. I still don't really know how much it is for the Tube, because I swear the prices change and my card goes down faster than expected. This week will be quiet, however, as I now have class Monday - Thursday 9-1:30 so I won't be able to travel anywhere until Friday. I think we're planning to have a small picnic in the park this week so we are trying to do local things. Our school also has some free comedy and movies nights on campus to go through so I definitely won't be bored. Emelia and I are also planning are last and final trip to Cork to see the Blarney Castle and Stone.

Side note: Dad, I need to buy a new plug adapter because mine starting sparking and overheating and I'm pretty sure blew out because it only works half the time. So FYI. And my camera charger hasn't come in so I might need you to call Amazon.