Gorgon or Sea God?

Bath, England

Driving into Bath was visually pleasing but the roads were clogged with cars. In spite of that, it's my favourite place so far. The buildings were made of the same material and in a similar style. An architect's dream town - every street and alley complimenting the next perfectly. 

Yannick lined this photo up as he knew it would make a great photo. That van was running, so we thought it couldn't be long before the owner moved it. But we waited and waited. In the end, we had to take the photo with the ruinous van. Also, a commuter. 

But architecture wasn't all the city had to offer: an excavated Roman bath was at the heart. The audio commentary was incredibly informative and even had recordings by the author Bill Bryson. The natural spring that once fueled the baths was still going strong, and I wanted to take a dip myself. One of the most interesting parts was a carving of a face that would have stood over the entrance to the baths. It was originally thought to depict the head of the Gorgon, but looked distinctly male. Neptune, the sea god, is a possible candidate and I put my bet on him.

Some parts of the baths were still very intact. There was some lead piping around in the Great Bath, and 'curses'. (People threw messages into the bath for the goddess of the bath, usually asking for thieves to be brought to justice. Some curses contained a list of possible suspects to narrow it down for her.) All in all, a fantastic 'museum' of sorts and well worth the cost of entry. I bought the T-shirt.

We had dinner at a pub called Sam Wellers. Proper English food, big portions for reasonable prices. I had the cottage pie and a Pimm's. They serve everything with peas in England, which I love.

The campground we stayed at had a quaint English countryside feel. The bathrooms were in an old stable where mosquitos settled on your ankles while you brushed your teeth, and the showers needed mats down because the cobblestones would hurt your bare feet. It was magical.