The Pseudo-Londoner: The Twenty-Third Day Part Two & Twenty-Fourth Day: Bath, V&A

Ready to hear about Bath? No? Well, GET READY.

We drove about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, from Stonehenge to get to Bath.
And the drive was STUNNING.

Chris took this photo. I may have been sleeping on the bus when we passed this. I'm not sure what it is, but I like it, and maybe want to live in it. I see a lot of things in the UK I feel that way about.

We arrived in Bath, and at this point, the tour guide kind of let us do our own thing. We just got to explore the city on our own terms, which I really liked.

Pulteney Bridge crossing the River Avon, built in 1774. This bridge is OLDER THAN MY WHOLE COUNTRY.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

Arch over York Street

First stop for us was, obviously, the Roman Baths. I mean, that's what the city is NAMED FOR. It'd be silly not to see them.

Check out this ceiling dome!

So old. The first temple here, dedicated to the Goddess Minerva (Roman) [Sulis (Celtic), or Athena (Greek)] was constructed in 60-70AD. The extent of all the history we're seeing in three months is staggering.

Roman Warrior overlooking Bath Abbey. More on THAT building later.

The Gorgon's Head from the Temple Pediment., discovered in 1790.
Probably the best known artifact from the Roman Baths.
If we look into our greek history, we know that Perseus killed the Gorgon with the help from goddess Athena, who the romans identify as Minerva. Perseus gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, and she wore it on her breastplate thereafter. What a better place to display the Gorgon's head than on the pinnacle of Minerva's temple? Lovely.

This is actually REALLY interesting. One of a hundred (or so) "Curse Tablets" found in 1980 during an excavation of the baths. The ancient Romans would inscribe a curse on a lead sheet, and throw it into the baths, invoking Minerva's help to curse their offenders, usually in regards to stolen goods.

This is a real, true wishing-well! It's ancient, so it must work.
They collect the money and use it to maintain the Roman Baths. I tossed a penny in.

They let you sample the Bath Water.
It supposedly has very real healing powers.

It tasted just like it smelled.
Which was just like sulphur.

After that adventure, we popped over next door to the Bath Abbey. I love this building. Check it out.

These are sculptures of angels ascending the Jacob's Ladder to get to heaven. Gorgeous.

We went inside. GUYS, look at this ceiling!!!

Are you KIDDING ME with this thing, Bath Abbey?
How's it the most miraculous thing I've ever seen, EVER?! I can't. I just can't.

Then Chris, being the freakin' awesome guy he is, discovers they do a TOWER TOUR. You get to walk up about a million stairs to get to the very top! Uh, YES we will do that. So we pay the £7 admission, secure the last two tickets to the last tour offered before our tour bus leaves, and BAM! We start climbing.

Two Hundred and Twelve Stairs. And I thought the seventy-six in our flat was bad.
I maybe freaked out a little in this tiny staircase. SO claustrophobic.

The first 170ish stairs got us to a small room where they demonstrated the pulley system for the bells. (We didn't see the actual bells.... yet.)

Then they took us into two smaller rooms. One led to this:

Where I felt like I was in this:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Or maybe this:

Safety Last

Okay, maybe not as dramatic as that last one. But still... I discovered that I have my dad's fear of heights! The other room took us onto a creaky little wooden platform hovering just above an archway on the floor. They proceeded to tell us this was the other side of the amazing fan-vaulting in the ceiling.

And that it's only 4 inches thick. (Yipes.) And that there's a HOLE IN THE FLOOR where you can SEE PEOPLE WALKING UNDERNEATH YOU. My legs got all jello-y. Terrifying. But kind of cool because the bell-ringers used to sit in that small upstairs room, looking out the hole in the floor, waiting for the bride and groom to walk by after a wedding ceremony. That was their cue to run into the main room and start ringing the bells.

Then, we went up MORE stairs, which led us to the bell chamber.

"Oh you of Bathe that hear my sound, thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound." Lady Hopton promised to donate £100 toward a bell for the Bath Abbey. She died after donating only £5. However, she wrote in her will that, should she die before the donation was complete, her family needed to provide the rest. Pretty awesome £5 spent to get your name on a bell. And a pretty terrible deal for her family. Grandma died AND you get to pay £95. You're welcome!

The bells chimed half-past while we were in the chamber. And let me tell you, it was loud. THEN, the tour guide turns to Chris, and says "Hey, pull on that rope right there." And he does. And the bell rings. CHRIS GOT TO RING THE BELLS IN AN ABBEY, you guys! I'm still so fuming with jealousy. He's so cool! I wish I was as cool as Chris. He got to be a real-life Quasimodo. But without the hunched back. (Too soon? Inappropriate? Meh.)

Freakin' Chris. She only picked him because he sat in the right seat.
I could have rung the bell just as good as he did. Geez.

Too rad. Then, we walked up even MORE stairs, to get to the very tippy top of the building. Jello legs abounded. But it was worth it.

Face to face with gargoyles.

You can't tell, but I'm shakin' in my boots.

We walked back down a hundred-ish stairs, and stopped at a lower balcony for some more photos.

And then, finally, I was back. Safe on the ground. And I didn't die. But I came pretty close. ;)
We walked around the Abbey, and saw this awesome statue.

Resurrection of Christ by Laurence Tindall
This style is very different from the usual sculptures of Christ I've seen. Pretty cool.

And then we saw THIS cool statue:

A beautiful blue pig. "What the...?" we said. Then we heard the story about King Bladud, the (fictional) first discoverer of the magical bath water. It's said he founded the city of Bath when he was banished from Athens due to his leprosy. He lived in Bath as a pig-keeper. One day, his pigs were wallowing in mud and he later noticed their warts and other piggy-blemishes were gone! He too bathed in the muddy water and his leprosy was cured. And he became King.
The end.

I just love this little city. We got back on the tour bus, and prepared for the long journey home, But not before snapping a few more photos from the bus!

Sunday, March 2

On Sunday, after church, we decided to go to the V&A. I'd been there a few times before (remember that sketching fiasco?) But there's still a whole bunch of it that I haven't seen.

Take this for example: Panoramic View of Rome from the Janiculum Hill.

Looks pretty amazing, right? Like a super detailed painting? WRONG. It's a mosaic.

Look at this!!!! Each "brush stroke" is actually a tiny colored piece of glass. It took artist Antonio Testa 20 years to finish this magnificent micromosaic. I'm absolutely flabbergasted about how much I love these things.

Micromosaic tabletop

Just astounding. This pictures don't even do them justice. If you're ever in London, and visit the V&A, GO TO THIS MOSAIC ROOM. It's easy to miss. But so worth it.

And on a walk around town, we saw THIS delightful little Citroen.

On the bus home, we noticed a bunch of police lights and things down the road, pretty close to our house. As we pulled up, we saw a group of Ukrainian protesters. They were outside of the Russian embassy. We got home, and changed into warm clothes, and headed toward the embassy to see if I could get some good photos. Unfortunately, they had finished and dispersed. But they left some traces behind.