bath time

after our london excursion, we headed off to bath. the first night we just walked into bishop sutton and had some mac and cheese for dinner. rachel had missed her flight so bridget had to drive back to london to pick her up. josh and i were left to explore the town in the morning, then bridget and rachel would meet us near the pay-park. since the museum of bath at work was the first thing to open, we went there first. J.B bowler was in ironworks, but during the summer season, he would bottle fizzy drinks. the museum was in the old factory, and most of the machinery was still there. there were old drill presses, pipe cutters and a jigsaws. but the more interesting machines were the ones used for bottling. this was a machine used to fill the bottles with water, flavoring, and then carbonation. they had to change the way they bottled the drinks after mr. bowler's daughter lost an eye while filling. then the bottles would be labeled. this cabinet is filled entirely with labels. i bought some samples of labels, but i wish i could have had samples of the drinks. they made ginger beer, super carbonated seltzer water, lime juice and soda, and orange champagne. they also had some "bath chairs" that were used to transport people to the baths. some were manual, like this one, while there were some that could be drawn by pony. underneath the museum they had an exhibit about mining bath stone. they would use long picks to break loose the top, then saw down the back and finally use wedges on the bottom.


after the museum of bath, we went to the costume museum of bath at the high assembly rooms. the rooms were closed because of meetings, but we were told to "pop our heads in" to see inside. there was a special exhibit on pockets. some were very plain, and just made out of linen, but others were elaborately embroidered to accessorize fancy outfits. there were about 40 different samples with all different shape, material, and even direction of the slit. there were also corsets to try on, but i must admit that i was a bit disappointed with them. i expected white lace with strings and boning that i would have to cinch to get on, but instead i felt more like a was getting into a royal blue rappelling harness. i suppose for the sake of time these made sense, and i was surprisingly squished. i just didn't feel very elegant. this picture is for rachel's benefit, certainly not mine.


After meeting up with rachel and bridget we went to the roman baths. you can read a more in-depth account here. i'll just add my pictures. it was hard to believe that these were hidden just a few feet below the surface. this is the king's bath. silas insisted on running on all the remaining stones around the pool. the green color is from the algae growing in it. there were hot pools and cool pools, and even a round bath (now used as a coin pool for donations. the pump room was closed for tea, so i couldn't pretend i was anne elliott, but i did drink some of the hot sulfur water pouring out of a fish fountain. yum yum! we did get to have ben and jerry's afterward, and that was yummy.


the following day we went on a jane austen walking tour. the guide would take us to a spot and then read a passage from either persuasion or northanger abbey. although it wasn't my most beloved pride and prejudice. i still enjoyed being in the same place as jane austen. we walked by the avon river and saw the pulteney bridge with shops on both sides. there were a lot of other museums i wanted to see, but i did get to eat at the sally lunn house (in the jane austen room) twice. this is the oldest house in bath. in the basement there was a kitchen museum where you could see the medieval foundations and the faggot oven where the first lunn bun was baked.