Yesterday we spent the day sightseeing in Bath. It was the first day of the Bath Christmas Market, with traditional wooden stalls being set up all around the central area. It attracts lots of people, mainly from the surrounding areas and it got quite busy by lunchtime.

At the hostel we had an invasion of about 40 school children. We think that they may be here to sing at the Abbey along with children from other schools as I noticed place markings for lots of different schools on the pews in the Abbey. They are very noisy, but somehow it still doesn’t feel like a takeover as they eat in the dining room next to the self catering kitchen and leave the main dining room for the rest of us.

Stephen wanted to go the the American Museum, but found that it didn’t open until 12.00, so he came back to the city just after I had finished my ‘look’ inside the Abbey. We went first  to the Roman Baths, and got our fill of warm water with steam rising, and reading/hearing about the history of the baths. They were a centre of life here in Roman Britain. The buildings were far more extensive then, but there are still some aspects of the original baths.

Then we went to a pretty cafe above an opportunity shop. It is run by volunteers, and quite classy considering. However, this place would be very busy in the tourist season, so anyone running a decent cafe would make a living I expect.

We walked up to the circus again, then across to the Royal Crescent, then down the hill to find the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. The museum is in the house where Herschel and his sister lived. His original plan had been to make a career of music, and he was successful in this. His sister was also musical and began to make a career as a singer. But, he also became interested in astronomy, and built his own telescopes. Together they made many discoveries, including the planet Uranus. He became a sort of Royal astronomer, with a small yearly pension, so that he could devote himself fully to it. So, a very interesting place, and I found their obvious dedication to music and astronomy very impressive.

After that, we walked around the stall for a while, bought some food to prepare in the kitchen for dinner, then caught the bus home. We started by setting up in the kitchen dining area, but when the kids arrived, we moved over to the main dining room to eat our meal. It was noisy, but very cheerful. We were able to shut the dining room door to make it a bit easier.

I have just found how to change the timezone so that my posts always reflect when they are written, rather than being on Perth time. Hooray!

I will post a couple of photos, but I will try to set up a slideshow later for our bath visit as a whole. Photos from the Bath Christmas Market and the Roman Baths, Bath.