Roman Baths and a little walk around Bath

Hello all! First, two notes before we get into the post for this evening. The first thing I'd like to note is I changed over to the more traditional Blogger blog option. It was on this newer "dynamic" layout which I liked more aesthetically, but it has proven to be more buggy. The second is that, for those of you who didn't see the P.S. in one of the earlier posts I have opened up comments to all, not just those who have registered. Now, on to the blog. . .

Ahem. Today we spent about four and a half hours at the Roman Baths. My feet (Tommy would like to me clarify that this is Libby writing, Tommy's feet are fine) are still recovering. We got to the baths right when it opened. The day started out really nice, we even had a little sun! The sun didn't last long though and it poured off and on for the rest of the day. Lucky for us some of that wonderful sun was out when we were on the terrace above and surrounding the great bath. Here are some photos from the terrace.

The photo everyone has... plus ducks.

From left to right: Vespasian - Emperor, Ostorius Scapula - Governor, Suetonius Paulinus - Governor, Julius Agripola -Governor , Head of "Roma" - SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus), Hadrian - Emperor

After the terrace you wander through the museum and ruins of the bathing complex. Here are some photos from that.

This is what the baths would have looked like to the Romans. Out of frame (to the left) is the temple and the temple courtyard.

Temple Pediment with Gorgon. Interesting note: A gorgon traditionally was a woman. This, however, is most clearly a man, as it has a beard.

Part of the original temple courtyard entrance.

Gilt bronze head of  Sulis Minerva. Discovered in 1727 it indicated the Roman settlement was not a typical one.

Sacred Spring where the water rises at a temperature of 114 degrees.

Overflow drainage

Now out to the Great Bath and it's adjacent pools:

The inlet to the Great Bath. 

As you can see, it's pouring.

The cold plunge pool to close the pores. It was the last stage in the whole bathing process at the complex.

A warm room. The floor would have been on top of the piles of brick and there would have been steam underneath to warm the floor and the room.

Libby in front of the Great Bath

Tommy listening too much to the audio guide.

Rain and Tommy being a dork.

After the Roman Baths we grabbed a quick lunch and joined up with the free walking tour. Our guide was a little old lady who was very nice but lost her train of thought a lot and she couldn't talk very loudly. We did get to go into the Assembly Rooms. In the Assembly Rooms are chandeliers that are insured for £1,000,000!

After the tour we went back to the B&B to figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. I decided that we should go to Las Iguanas, a Latin food joint. I.E. Mexican and tapas. Our dinner was SO good!

I had chicken gringos and Tommy had an enchilada. Their refried beans were SO good

creamy caramel cake, YUM

If you ever see a Las Iguanas restaurant, go there. That was our day, hope you enjoyed it :)

P.S. Editors note: if you're interested in any of more historical or cultural bits we saw in the museum request it in the comments and I can oblige. I took a bunch of pictures of stuff in the museum. I won't in the least bit be offended if no requests are made. :-)