Chocolate Fudge, Roman Baths and Sad Goodbyes

The foursome in Bath

Lolling by the waters

Me and Marc
So we did it. Visiting the Roman Baths was important for us four studying here - and more so for Isa who's doing a project on it for his class - because we got to learn about the historical significance the thermal hot springs carried, and how the place Bath got its name.

The museum bit of it got a tad too draggy though, with exhibits of even the smallest stone figures and pewter curses. Okay, the curses bit was interesting, because it appears back in the early ADs, the Romans threw curses inscribed on small pewter or lead sheets into the spring, as a seeking of the goddess Minerva's divine intervention. Minerva is the goddess of the spring, and the hot spring itself was a sacred place. So these archaeologists unearthed these curses :

and translated them from Latin. The funny thing is these curses were often set against thieves of stolen items, and were therefore petty and trivial to some extent. (You didn't really find any that said, "Curse he who slept with my sister and then with my wife" or anything like that) So that was kind of cute.

The hot spring that feeds the baths still bring water to the surface every day, and the temperature is a nice warm 80 degrees (if I did not remember wrongly). I touched the water (but only barely because I was terrified of falling in), and it didn't feel all that hot, but kind of nice and cosy for an autumn afternoon.

Clinging on for dear life to my possessions

Of course, Marc being Marc, decided to dip his thumb, index and middle finger, so that he will have plenty of mahjong luck. Looking pleased with himself, he then decided to climb on the tombstone we had been sitting on for a nice photo moment.

Ahuh, okay, darling.

Oh! And right outside the Baths we discovered they were filming the movie "Persuasion", based on Jane Austen's famous novel.

However, try as we might to crane our necks, we couldn't spot any Keira Knightley! :( It seems it was merely an extras shoot. But what a shoot it was - the props and set looked so real. There were horses and carriages too, and well Bath's cobblestoned streets looked extremely authentic of course.

A pity you can't see the cameraman's face clearly, he was kind of cute methinks. Teehee.

Aside from visiting the Baths and seeing a true-blue film set on the streets, we also :

1) had chocolate fudge at this charming fudge store - my virgin experience!

2) visited Bath Abbey, which is really pure-looking and beautiful inside, though the tombstones that cover the floor did freak me out some

3) had dinner at Sally Lunn's, a restaurant in the oldest building in Bath dating back to the 11th century or somethin', and tried the apparently world famous "Sally Lunn bun", which is really a form of brioche

4) caught a play at the Theatre Royal for five pounds - we got cheap seats but were able to move forward in the end. It was a lovely play called Amy's View. Really poignant and powerful. Easy to follow, too

5) celebrated Mon's 21st birthday amongst this all - she's a beeg girl now, yes she is

I hope you had a good time, Monnycat. Happy happy birthday, may your wishes all come true. :) And hope you will keep wearing the dress I bought you! Hehe.

Marc left for Paris this morning. I walked him to the bus station (or more like ran, since we were almost late), and then hugged him and kissed him goodbye. I couldn't bear to wait for the bus to pull out of the station because my heart was already aching, so I waved a silent goodbye and gestured that I was going before the tears started. The walk back to my hostel was lonely.

But there's no denying it was a lovely week together, absolutely lovely. :)