When in England, do as the Romans do- Take a Bath!

Jessica and I went on a day excursion and went to Bath! The thing about Bath: about 90% of it is atmosphere. There are street performers EVERYWHERE! There are also street vendors EVERYWHERE! There are architectural beauties EVERYWHERE! Jessica and I would be walking down the street and look down an alleyway. The alleyway would have beautiful architecture but you could see the rolling countryside behind it- that kind of juxtaposition is so......awesome!

We stopped into St. John's chapel/hospital, which has been in existence since the 1100s....This was in an alleyway that we poked our heads in...it's amazing how much cool stuff you find if you just poke around a bit. We also ended up going to the Fashion Museum (it was quite small and almost non existent...) but then we saw the exhibit on Lady Diana Spencer.







Of course we went to the Roman Baths! :-)

(Julius Caesar)

Some of the Roman Architecture found when Bath was first excavated (above and below).

The curses offered up to Silenus Minerva, the Goddess that the Romans worshiped in Bath. People would pray for revenge and curses of wrongdoings. The offers of thanksgiving, etc to honor Silenus Minerva.

The hottest spring in Bath:

Dwain the bathtub! I'm dwowning!

The King's Bath (above)
The Great Bath (below)


This quilt has every house (Tudor, Plantagenet, Windsor, Stuart, etc) listed of the English Monarchy and all the names of the rulers from that household....I found it cool. :-)

The Beautiful Church outside of the Pump Room! (Sadly my camera died before we could go inside..... :-( ) :


Jessica and I saw many Aslan sightings! It made us so happy. Now if only I could find the right wardrobe.....

The Iffley Tower

Sadly, there is no Iffley tower- BUT there is a church in Iffley dating back 800 years into the 12th century! We took a day excursion on Thursday over to Iffley! It was Jessica's Birthday, and we celebrated in style!

We took a boat ride up to Iffley (pictured below.) I shall never grow tired of the English countryside. You can't capture its beauty on camera- but just to see it on either side of the River is just so nice and peaceful.





Once we got to Iffley we explored the Church! I was the first one who dared to enter the church- where it was breathtaking. It was quiet and elegant- gave me the shivers! I sat down and said a prayer of Thanksgiving. I feel so lucky to be here! That's the first blessing I count on a daily basis.

I keep finding these lamp posts! If only I could find Spare OOm! I might be able to enter Narnia at last!!

Then, I entered the Church and saw the glory it beheld:



I don't know if I could capture the beauty on camera. It was so simplistically beautiful. Overwhelming, really. Afterwards, we hung outside the church for a little bit.
Do you know those creepy graveyards you always see in the horror movies with the fog, etc? Or like in Harry Potter in the fourth movie? This church had one......and it was completely peaceful...so we hung out there for a little bit- just soaking everything in.






Can you see the face of the guardian to the graveyard?

While I was sitting on the wall in front of the church, looking into the cemetery a car pulled up to the cemetery. Out of the passengers side (which is the left side instead of the right), an old gentleman with a cane, hobbles up the steps into the cemetery. He makes a slow beeline for a gravestone. He stood there and talked to it for a bit. Then, he stooped down on his knees and started cleaning off the gravestone and putting flowers around it, making it pretty. He was there still taking care of his wife's gravestone.

I started crying. That kind of Love is something to cherish and aspire to have.


On a more random note- we saw meerkats on our walk back to the bus station!
Cheers from Iffley!
J.