Day #12 (28-Mar-2007)
Leaving St Buryans
We got up early (5:30am) because our train was leaving Truro for Bath at 8:26am. Amy
cooked scrambled eggs for breakfast (the best I have tasted so far in England - I have
eaten quite a bit of it - I am not at all impressed with English cooking), then we
packed our stuff and headed out for Truro (at 6:30am).
Arriving at Truro
We arrived at Truro (at 7:30am) after an uneventful drive except for the thick fog on
the roads which I had never seen before in Australia (not quite pea-soup but
impressive never the less). I dropped Amy at Truro train station and then went to the
petrol station to fill the car up (I saw one nearby on the way in and I retraced my
steps back to it) (petrol in England is about £80-90 / litre - which is very expensive
compared to Australia). From here I set out to look for the AVIS car rental place (I
really should have asked for directions - I had only been there once before and I
really didnt have a clue where it was - it was 7:50am and the place didn't open until
8am, plenty of time!) [Truro is roughly the same size as Toowoomba].
Unfortunately driving around was providing me with much luck, but thanks to the great
British road signs (I am not kidding, British main roads are very well sign-posted), I
manage to stumble across the A39 (when leaving AVIS I didnt have to drive very far to
get onto the A39), so I decided to follow that back into Truro. Then I saw AVIS!
After some tricky maneouvering (which will probably land me on an episode of Britain's
Worst Drivers) I arrived at the AVIS place at 8:05am and handed the keys in.
I then waited for a cab that didnt arrive until 8:15am :( and then we got stuck in
peak-hour traffic. He knew that I was trying to get to the station before 8:26am so
he did some tricky taxi-driver maneouvering and got me there at 8:23am (plenty of
time!).
Train Ride
I bolted to the platform (which was on the far side - typical!) and found Amy on the
overhead bridge, struggling with all our luggage (all 40-50kg of it). I grabbed some
and we bolted down to the waiting train (our carriage was the furtherest away from the
bridge - typical!). We bolted for the last carriage, but halfway down the train
people were shutting the doors on the train, so we jumped on the middle carriage and
put our luggage there. We then walked through the train down to the last carriage (we
were separated from our luggage again), to our seats. The seats on the opposite side
of the aisle to us were double seats (opposing seats facing each other) with a table
between them, and most importantly a power supply (I looked at it with envy, I wanted
to plug my laptop in :( ). There were 4 young women sitting there and the asked where
we from. I cheerfully answered "Australia", and then they launched into conversations
with me about spiders and deadly creatures which I happily indulged in (about this
time I got in trouble with Amy who said that I was chatting up young women ;) ). So I
decided to be unsociable after this, and just sat and read something. I tried to use
my laptop but the battery ran out.
About halfway through the journey (and to my delight) I realized that all seats had
power supplies! I plugged my laptop in and continued on. My laptop then stopped
again, and I realized that they were not active (I even checked the double-seat power
supply and it wasnt either). I then gave up and read the paper instead (some British
soldiers being taken captive by Iran is big news here. reading British papers about
the Australian cricketers is also interesting too - sort of compimentary but in a
left-handed way).
Arriving at Bath
We finally got to Bath, got a Taxi to our next stay and then checked in. We then got
a taxi back to town (Probably no need here but we didnt know the area and we were
laden with post office stuff). We then went to a post office and did more mailing.
After this we hit the town centre (Bath is small enough to walk across the entire area
in a short time - If it wasnt for the steep hills), and started at Bath Abbey.
Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey is an impressive church (not quite as impressive as St Paul's Cathedral -
but good in its own right). I looked at the gravestones that adorned the walls (yes -
gravestones in a church - not sure if there were bodies behind them), and found it
fascinating that some had dates before Australia was even colonised(invaded whatever).
One person died in 1710, another in 1664.
While there I met an old lady in robes (a female priest? - not sure), who was a child
during WWII. Her husband served in the war (they met after it). She talked all about
the rationing and how we had sent her all this nice flour (it was white instead of the
grey stuff that they had), and all the other help we gave, and thanked me profusely
for this (I liked to think I was solely credited for saving Britain during WWII but I
think I had some help ;) ). It was at this point that I realised that she thought I
was American, and I said "oh, I am Australian". she responded (uncertainly) "oh, you
guys helped too" (gee thanks ;).
Roman Baths
After the abbey, we then headed for the Roman Baths (which is very close). If there
is one place that you must get to in Bath, it is the Roman Baths. It is a great place
full of history (the only problem with the place was that it was packed with tourists
[us included] and moving around was difficult). There are many rooms to the Roman
Baths (each room primes you for the next room and then finally the Baths). Originally
men & women came here and bathed naked together but the Emperor (the party pooper)
banned nakedness and they eventually complied. In the time of Jane Austen women would
come here and bathe fully clothed (which would have been funny to see). In one of the
prep-rooms the floor was so hot that you could not walk bare foot on it. so they
would walk in with sandals. rich / powerful people would pose off here by having
servants cover them with oil and perfumes which would be a dead giveaway of their
status.
It is important to note (and we were reminded constantly by our audio-phone guide - a
device that you use like a phone. it has a keypad and when you enter the numbers
which are on the wall, it reads a spiel to you) that this is not just a hedonistic
(although i dont see a problem there - if i were an ancient roman i would have been
down here every day) but also religious (they believed the baths had curative
properties) experience as well. A temple was even erected nearby to Minerva/Sulinus
(sp?) [sulinus was the british healing goddess - the romans loved to adopt other
culture's gods].
the baths were green (nearly opaque) water at the time and still are now (they didn't
look to encouraging to enter - mushrooms were growing on the steps - we werent allowed
anyway). We then went through the last bath room and then left (the tour takes you
through each room by the nose).
Roman Pump Room
We then went to a restaurant called the "Roman Pump Room", which Jane Austen
purportedly had tea in, and had high-tea. This consisted 2 cups of tea (with a pot),
and a 3-layer metal tray thing with sandwiches on the bottom layer, scones on the
middle layer, and sweets on the top layer. Worth doing once but I wouldnt recommend
doing it any more than that as it cost £25. There was also a "Spa" fountain that
served hot water that you could buy to drink (supposed to cure you of illness - yeh,
cured one of critical thinking maybe ;) but we didnt get any. After that we shopped
around bath (and managed to score an alarm clock) until nightfall, and then walked
back to the train station where a taxi-rank is outside (the only known one in this
city) and then got a taxi back to the Wentworth Hotel (our place of stay).
Sleep
We lay down (at 6-7pm) and I crashed big-time. I vaguely remembered Amy offering me
coffee and soup at various times but i was too tired and slept through until 8am the
next morning (something about travelling makes one very tired - possibly sickness too
- although I mostly over it now - yeh!)
