July the 2nd (Or, Internet at Last!)

Well, so ends the second day of my Celebration of American Independence...in Britain! I have decided that the first five days in July will be marked by the wearing of very patriotic socks. Thus, five days of patriotic pride!

FINALLY I have Internet again, though it is limited to 30 minutes at a time in the lobby of our hotel in...Bristol! That's right, we crossed the border into England today! We were sad to say goodbye to Wales (it is truly beautiful there, and who doesn't love a country with a dragon on it's flag?) but we've been eager to get to England most of this trip. And now we're here! As far as birthdays go, I'd have to say this ranks pretty high, seeing as how I've wanted to come to the British Isles since High School. We woke up in Cardiff and were given an extra three hours to do some shopping, so I got a few postcards and a t-shirt. We then boarded the bus and headed off to England, where the first stop was in Bath.

I didn't realize how excited I was to see a real Roman Bath until we were there and I started recognizing things. They gave us each a little audio player and we walked around looking at displays and signs and listening to the explanations. I took a ton of pictures. The building was built over the ruins of the bath. The Romans chose this spot because there was a hot spring and they thought that was sacred. Apparently the spring is still active, though no one would want to bathe in the water now! There used to be a roof over the spring, but it has long since fallen. Now the water is green and full of unmentionable things. But it still steams and bubbles!

Highlights of the Roman Baths:
-recognizing the "hot" room from pictures in my Latin textbooks. It's a bunch of little pillars that held up a second floor so that the hot water could warm the room from underneath.
-purchasing a little gift for my brother in the gift shop :) I kept on finding things that I thought he would love because of the Latin involved (and we found Harry Potter written in Latin, which we started translating once in Latin class in high school!).
-this amazing fresco that's in pieces. The spring was dedicated to Minerva, but the face on the fresco was distinctly male. Of course, my first thought was that it was Neptune and sure enough, the audio explanation said that the sea god was probably the one represented. Then he proceeded to point out the little ornaments around the face of Neptune, the first of which was an owl, the symbol of Minerva (Athena, in Greece). Three guesses where my brain went then: Percy Jackson. This little invented allusion made my day. Needless to say I bought a postcard of the fresco for Michelle. :)
-drinking the spring water! Some of it is purified and since the Romans believed that drinking and bathing in the water would heal you, they now allow the guests to sample the spring water. It's hot and slightly sulfuric and not at all appetizing, but I did it!

After the baths we were given ample time to walk around Bath. I was unaware that Bath is a location that is significant to Jane Austen, but apparently she spent a lot of time there. Also, she seemed to hate it. We went to the Jane Austen center and walked around the shop and I found there a little gift for my sister! (and for an old roommate who happens to be fond of a certain Mr. Knightley... :) )

I had my birthday dinner in Bath in a restaurant called The Slug and Lettuce. You can cringe and squirm all you want, but the fact of the matter is that we were fed giant plates of quality food, all for half price because it happened to be Monday! (Apparently most Mondays they sell everything for half price.) I celebrated my birthday by eating fish and chips (the fish was Haddock for the first time!) and then a cheesecake with berries. Yum! What an amazing find. Once everyone got on the bus, one of the girls made me stand up and they all sang "you've got a birthday, shout hooray!" When they asked how old I was and I answered, I was met with the usual shock and awe. "Really?" "No, wait. Really?" "She looks nineteen!" :) And, now we're in Bristol! I only get thirty minutes to upload three blog posts, check email and Facebook, and catch up on other internetly things before I am again confined to the void that is no internet, so that is that! I love you all! Happy July!