First Round of photos, third round of fun!

After France, we headed for Wales.  We passed the time in the car trying to learn how to read the street signs.  Os gwelwch yn dda (say os gwel ookh uhn thah)  = please.  YIKES!!  Only about 25% of the population in Wales speak Welch, and they all speak English.  However, Welch is taught in the schools and all the street signs are printed in both languages.  We discovered that Shelley, Rebecca's GPS, reads Welsh but speaks English, as place names must be spelled the Welch way or we can't find them (yr Wyddfa = Snowdonia) ?!?!!

On the way, we stopped in Bath.  I like Bath; maybe it's the water nymph in me.  Sadly, it's the only hot springs in the UK. Can you think of any county more in need of a giant hot water bottle? Of course, the ancient Romans believed the water was blessed, a gift from the gods, with magical healing powers.  They built a temple to Sulis Minerva and elaborate public bathing facilities, with a steam room, hot, tepid, and cold baths, and a one stop shop for sacrifices and beauty treatments.  The original lead pipes and stone drains still work, over 1600 years later.  The healing powers apparently wore off, since now the water is off limits for fear it will make you sick.

The current display there is very interesting and remarkably well presented.  One of my favorite parts was the curses.  Then, as now, it is dangerous to run into the water naked and leave one's things unattended.  Victims of thefts, presumably after borrowing some clothes, would write curses on thin sheets of lead, fold them up, and throw them into the spring, leaving vengeance to the Goddess.  It was believed that if the curse floated, it would rebound on the writer.  From the intensity of the curses, that would clearly be worse than losing the original item.  Check these out:

• To Minerva the goddess of Sulis I have given the thief who has stolen my hooded cloak, whether slave or free, whether man or woman. He is not to buy back this gift unless with his own blood.
• To the person who stole my cooking pot:  may you never sleep peacefully, never use your eyes well, and possibly die.
• May he who has stolen Vilbia from me become as liquid as water... (No idea what Vilbia was.  Goat? Slave? Favorite plant?)
• To the most holy goddess Sulis. I curse him who has stolen my hooded cloak, whether man or woman, whether slave or free, that...the goddess Sulis inflict death upon...and not allow him sleep or have children now and in the future, until he has brought my hooded cloak to the temple of her divinity.

That's some serious business!!  But on a lighter note, here are some photos from the adventure so far.