Today was Bath day! Bath is about a 45 minute drive from Wells. As we were approaching the city, there were signs saying to use the Park and Ride for the Bath Christmas Market. It was fortunate that we followed the sign's advice because Bath was absolutely teeming with people. We couldn't believe it. Although the market was huge and looked interesting, we didn't explore it - the last thing we need is more "stuff" that needs to be sent home! (We've got another pile of books as it is!)
Our first port of call was Bath Abbey, three views of which are above.
The Nave (as with the rest of Bath, there were lots of people around)
Fan vaulting above the nave
The Organ (rebuilt in 1996, hardly even run in!)
The choir stalls
A banner (the Abbey is dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul)
As usual, there are carvings in the Quire.
This window depicts the consecration of the Norman Cathedral (as it was then) in the early 12th century. It is set within the remains of a Norman arch of this church.
Jesus calls his disciples.
The Archangel Raphael
The Archangel Michael
The Archangel Gabriel (with the lily, the symbol of Mary)
Bishop Ken (1637-1711) wrote a number of hymns including "Glory to thee, My God, this Night".
King Alfred
This is part of the Noke Memorial Window (Major Edward Noke). He was stationed for some time in Australia with his regiment.
I was particularly taken with this memorial. As you can see in the three photos below showing details of the memorial, Jacob Bosanquet must have been a wonderful person.
The Lectern
Only well-behaved lions here!
The West Window shows scenes from the Old Testament...
...including giraffes arriving at Noah's Ark...
...and baby Moses being found in a basket in the bulrushes of the Nile River.
You may be old enough to remember shorthand. Sir Isaac Pitman developed a widely-used version.
A musician on the organ case
Captain Arthur Philip was in charge of the First Fleet to Australia.
The coronation ceremony of Edgar (in 973) forms the basis of every English coronation since. The service was designed by Dunstan (the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time who was later sainted).
Joseph and Jesus doing all the work in the family carpentry business while Mary reads a book!!
The building which fronts the Roman Baths was constructed in 1897.
Satoshi met a new friend just before we went inside.
The two photos above show the interior of the building now used as the entrance to the Baths. It was built as a concert hall.
I wonder what the Emperor Vespasian would think about mobile phones and people visiting the baths without actually bathing! (Apparently, this is not allowed because the water still goes through the original lead pipes and also a girl died in 1978 after contracting meningitis after swimming in the baths).
An elephant (not Roman)
The model depicts what the Roman Baths looked like.
I thought this was a clever way to show the missing parts of this entry to one of the buildings.
The projections were turned on/off every few minutes.
Roman feet walked upon this pavement but we were not allowed.
The head of Sulis Minerva, the goddess to whom the Roman Temple was dedicated.
This Roman-built drain still does what it was made to do - take excess water from the baths to the river.
The Roman Baths (with pretend Roman woman)
The visit to the Baths took a lot longer than we had anticipated so we decided to take a quick tour on the "hop on, hop off bus" so we could see some of the sites around Bath. The fact that it was getting dark combined with the movement of the bus made photography difficult.
By the time we got off the bus, it was almost dark. The tower of the Abbey looked great in its flood lighting.
We had originally planned to go to Evensong at Wells Cathedral but we decided to do the bus trip instead. We got back to Wells in comfortable time to go to a concert in the Cathedral by the Brook Street Band. They played trio sonatas for flute and violin by Bach, Handel, Leclair and Telemann. A very enjoyable conclusion to yet another happy, interesting and busy day!