I set my alarm for 9am today. We got up and packed up the last of our things. We skipped breakfast today to save time. We were out the door at 10am. I turned in our apartment key and informed the people that I had accidentally broken the reading lamp our first night there. They kindly didn’t charge us anything for it.
We were back to hauling our luggage, and we were happy to be back to having two intact bags. We took the 266 bus to the Hammersmith metro station. Then we took the Picadilly line train to Heathrow airport. Actually we wasted a half an hour trying to save a few pence by using our travelcard to get to a station closer to the airport but still in Zone 2. Unfortunately, we read the subway map wrong and ended up having to go back to Hammersmith and using our oyster cards instead. We could’ve just continued to our destination and paid the difference but then we would have ended up paying even more. So back we went and we just used our oysters the way we should’ve done in the first place. Sometimes trying to be super frugal doesn’t pay off, but that’s the exception not the rule! ;p
At Heathrow we turned in our oyster cards and got the remaining balance and deposits back. Then we loaded our luggage onto a trolley and headed upstairs to the car rental bus stop. The Avis courtesy shuttle was already there waiting. We took it to the car rental main office. After a ridiculously long wait in line we finally got our car. This time we have a silver Peugeot 207, and it’s not in as pristine condition as the Ford Fiesta was so hopefully it will be harder for them to determine if we’ve added any new scratches to the existing collection when we turn the car back in.
Once we were settled in the car and were underway again it was already 1pm. Since it was so late we decided to skip going to Windsor castle. We will have a chance to still visit the castle on our last day in Britain since we will be driving past in the vicinity again. The other attraction that we planned to visit today was the Roman Baths of Bath. It was about a two hours drive to Bath. We parked the car and headed towards the center of town. On the way we stopped at a public restroom which cost 10pence to use. It was one of the toilets that I call ‘Space toilets’. These toilets are the kind that have a thick shiny metal door that hisses and opens like the doors of futuristic movie space ships. First you have to put in the money of course! This toilet took automation to new limits. Toilet paper was dispensed at the push of a button, but only three sheets at a time, and after nine button presses it cut you off! I don’t want to go into the details, but needless to say I needed more toilet paper than this damn Space toilet was willing to provide... When Davin took his turn in the Space toilet he learned that it wasn’t just the toilet paper that was rationed. He had his water cut off and wasn’t able to sufficiently wash his hands. Apparently when you pay 10pence to use a toilet, the toilets in Bath intend to limit you to 10pence worth of toilet amenities!! All I have to say is, “Damn you Space Toilets of Bath!!”
The streets of Bath were quite crowded, and the city seemed to be a bit of a tourist trap to us. It was only a short walk to the Pump Rooms and Roman Baths. The entry to the Roman Baths cost us 21 Pounds. It included an audio guide that was very informative. The baths themselves were very well preserved, and the exhibits were impressive. The British really love using digital media in their museums to recreate the feeling of living in the past.
The Roman Bath was once dedicated to the goddess Minerva (in Greek, Athena) and the British tribal goddess Sulis who the Romans decided was the tribal people’s equivalent of Minerva. In this way the temple they built was to the goddess Sulis Minerva. The bath is situated atop the only natural hot spring in Britain, and the warm waters were believed to be infused with the power of the goddess. The sick, injured, and chronically ill all came to bathe in the waters and pray for the goddess to cure them.
When the Romans weren’t praying to Minerva to be healed, they were asking her to punish (usually by death) the thieves who stole their bathing robes and other valuables while they were bathing. The victims of theft would employ a scribe to write out a curse on thin piece of tin which they could then roll up and thrown into the sacred hot spring.
The technology employed in building the baths was also very impressive. They built the floors and walls of the steam rooms in such a way as to allow the heat from fires to flow beneath and through them. After my visit, I kind of wished the baths were still intact so I could enjoy a nice hot spring and sauna.
The last unique experience we had at the Roman Baths was having the opportunity to drink some of the sacred spring water. There is just nothing like drinking a glass of hot water while the smell of rotting eggs wafts into your nostrils! Yep... delicious sulphur water and 42 other “medicinal” minerals. Yum, yum, yum. I managed to down three large gulps before the growing urge to vomit became to strong to risk drinking anymore. Davin drank all of his and tried to get me to drink more of mine saying, “It’s not that bad.” I begged to differ. Davin shrugged and said, “If you think that’s bad, you should’ve tried some of the colonoscopy concoction I had to drink!” I’d rather pass on both, thanks! Anyway, I can see why taking the waters in Bath was considered to be a great medical treatment up through the nineteenth century. It tastes about as good as medicine! Unfortunately, it’s really just disgusting tasting water with no medical benefits. Sorry invalids.
We spent about two and a half hours at the Roman Baths. We made it back to our car a little after 6pm. A little bit of luck awaited us there, the parking exit rail had gotten jammed in the up position so we saved 5Pounds for parking. That almost makes up for the money we accidentally wasted on parking in Exeter! Almost...
It was just a forty minute drive to our hotel in the town of Chepstow. We officially crossed into Wales across the Severin Bridge (for a 5.50Pound toll). Our hotel was easy to find and our room is nice and spacious. Much bigger than our apartment (but minus a kitchenette) and for the same price per night (that’s living in London versus elsewhere for you!).
We walked about the main street nearby to see all our options for dinner. It was unfortunately Sunday and we hadn’t had time to get to the grocery store before it closed at 4pm! Sundays in Europe can easily catch an American off guard. There are no 24/7 establishments to be had. It’s actually a miracle that grocery stores are open til 4pm on Sundays in Britain. In Germany they don’t open at all. Anyway, SOME (by no means most) restaurants are open. We chose to get some food from the Chinese take out place. We had a delicious dinner of Kung Po chicken on rice.
Then Davin took a bath. (We were thrilled to discover our room has a bathtub.) Meanwhile, I wrote yesterday’s update. Then I went down to the bar and discovered the free internet doesn’t seem to work. I was bummed not to be able to say ‘hi’ to Scott. I just hoped he wouldn’t worry about me too much when I didn’t text him. I would’ve liked to give him a quick call just to let him know I would be out of touch more than I had originally thought, but I couldn’t even do that since our room apparently lacks a telephone. We do have an iron and ironing board though, and a sofa bed. In the end, I watched one episode of Star Trek Voyager and went to bed around midnight.
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