Bawth, continued

a cool weathervane on display in Abbey Vaults. It fell off a tower in 1800 or something.

Am only on second cup of tea at 14.51! And, no, did NOT just now get up -- Jinmi met me for church this morning at 9.45...just haven't gotten myself properly caffeinated today.

Have tried. Cannot. Cannot. Cannot say "Bawth" in any sort of credible way. It's kind of like me trying to use that same vowel in a word that is a synonym for "donkey" -- that doesn't work either :)

Anyhoo, to continue your history lesson.

Romans arrived in Bath in 44 A.D. Local hot springs were already used by local people for healing properties. Romans built a temple to Sulis Minerva and bath houses beginning in about 65 A.D. Did not go on the tour of the Baths, so just got this (free) view from the Pump Room. Probably ought to have, but did not, drink the (pricey) healing water; it is reputed to taste faintly of eggs, soap and metal. mmmmm! There are 43 minerals in the water.

Cloudy parts of picture are steam. Water temperature is 46*C (115*F)! Spa water fell as rain up to 10,000 years ago and filtered through limestone cave system -- it has reached depths of 2 to 3 km.

This bath complex is right next to the Abbey; there are some other baths close by as well. Christianity was well established in Bath by around 350 A.D. There was a monastery with Cathedral, built in 775, on the site of the current abbey, and this is where Edgar, first king of all the Britons was crowned in 973. That Cathedral was destroyed by Sweyn the Dane (those darn Danish -- hee hee) in 1010. Norman version built from 1088-1122; partially destroyed by fire in 1137. Then some more disasters, ending with the big one of Henry VIII's Dissoloution of the Monasteries in 1539, which resulted in the sale of the Abbey and the destruction of most of the buildings. One really sad thing about this period was that the library was dismantled and/or destroyed, so many illuminated manuscripts were sold or burned.

Abbey was re-roofed and restored by 1611 or 1616 and began to be used for worship as the Parish Church of Bath. It was damaged again in 1942 by bombs.

Famous people who have resided in Bath: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Napoleon III, Lord Nelson, Sir Walter Scott.

Yesterday, smart animal rescue people were using the higher than average number of people on the street to find homes for greyhounds and some other cute creatures. Is this NOT the funniest little creature?????!!!!!

Many people may tire of hearing me say how marvelously different British sausage is (although it will be a stretch to find something to make red beans and rice with). This is the product of me trying to surreptitiously take pictures at the window of a meat shop... people still looked at me funny :)

Here are just a few of the types of sausages: Thai; Lemon Chicken with Tarragon; Mulled Wine; Mercedez; Toulouse; The Bath Sausage (pork, smoked Wiltshire ham, spinach and dijon mustard); Cajun Scorcher; Stilton and Apple; Somerset Scrumpy; Newmarket Chipolata. In the top row, third pan from the R, is Haggis, which I love! Just don't look at it too long or think about it too hard, and you can eat it. Kind of like some Louisiana food.

So after it got dark-ish, was able to play with taking pictures in the dark. Sat under this tree in front of the coffee shop, Boston Tea Party, and ate some fish and chips.

Finally, this was just a cool thing on a side street... random. Have no idea what it is.

Will definitely be going back to Bath. Persons interested in accompanying should alert me to this fact :) (Have to go back. I mean, I didn't go to a SINGLE cemetary!)