Rome-ing around Bath

Leah and I went took a day trip this weekend, to see the English city of Bath and take in a bit of history. We almost missed the bus because our cabbie couldn't find our flat. And Mom, you'll be glad to know I am my mother's daughter; I was ready to flip out because there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily, Leah was the calm and collected one, but I think it was only because I was the one freaking out so she had to be.

Anyway, it took less than two hours to get there. We basically had free reign to do whatever from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. So we bought a map for a pound from a vending machine at the coach park and went wandering.

Bath looked a lot bigger coming in, but by the end of the day, Leah and I had covered the entire tourist section and then some. We started, of course, with the Roman baths. It cost us 8.95 pounds, but I had decided I wasn't going to go to Bath and not see the baths, although we met some people on our bus who did just that.



It was worth our money. We got audio wands like we did a Stonehenge, only there were like more than 150 places where we could have stopped to listen instead of just seven. We spent almost two hours checking it all out.

We entered at street level on the terrace, looking down at the Great Bath, the largest and probably most photographed. The actual baths are at least 15 feet below street level. For the tour, the guide takes visitors around the terrace, back into the formal temple and temple courtyards, and then to the Great Bath itself, the East and West baths and the Sacred Spring.

The temple has been commercialized, but it a way that didn't bother me as much as it did at Stonehenge. It was necessary to show visitors what the baths used to be like and explain their significance in ancient history. The Celts discovered these natural hot springs and built a small shrine, but the Romans mastered them during their rule in Britain. If they had never come, who knows what would have happened to them. Certainly they wouldn't be as they are now, but somehow, I think they would have remained sacred.

The temple is dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva, a goddess of healing. Roman soldiers, in particular, and others who were inflicted with injury or sickness, would travel to the baths to take advantage of their healing powers. Evidence remains of an unknown, but assuredly massively large number of visitors. Archaeologists have uncovered piles of coins that people left for the goddess, hair combs that indicated women visited as well as men and countless other artifacts.

The baths contain bacteria infested water now, that's not safe to drink and not really safe to touch either. But Leah and I couldn't resist. It was just the tip of my right finger, but it was enough to tell that it was warm and naturally that way. It was cool to think that so many people had been there before me, and so many would come after, to check out this phenomenon.



Some quick facts: The water that comes from the springs is 46 degrees Celsius, which I had to convert to get an idea — it's 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Holy crap. And for more than 2,000 years, the springs have been producing 309,081 gallons of water a day. In liters (which makes it sound even more impressive) it's 1,170,000 a day.

After we left the baths, I was starving. So I copped out an grabbed some Burger King. I know, I'm in the UK with massive amounts of pubs that serve burgers if that's what I really wanted. But I was hungry and we wanted to walk and eat. So it worked.

We stopped out a bridge that overlooked the Avon river. There were a lot of people there, watching something that wasn't the river's levies. It was a rugby game, apparently sold out. And we were standing in the exact spot were everyone else wanted to be. We could see about 25 yards of the field, definitely not enough to know what was going on, or even which team the city of Bath was playing. But it was prime ground. We hung out for a big. Caught a glimpse of a scrum or two. Heard magnificent cheers indicating Bath was doing well. Then we moved on.

We walked across the bridge. It had shops on either side of it, and when we crossed it again later in the day, it took me a second to realize that was where we were. You couldn't see the river coming from the other way, so it just felt like a normal street.



Eventually, we headed to the Jane Austen Centre. That was what Leah wanted to do, and I had no objection. She had appeased me by going to see the baths. We weren't sure where it was, so we followed the posted signs that seem to be in every city in the UK. I know they have them in Swansea, and Leah said she saw them in London as well. Streets aren't very clearly marked, and when they are, it's because their names are carved into the sides of buildings or posted on a plaque. There isn't such a thing as street signs here.

After, I think only one wrong turn and a detour to buy Pashmina scarves from a market vendor for 5 pounds each, we found the center. The tickets we bought got us a 10-15 minute talk from a very informative and engaging volunteer. She knew things about Jane Austen I never would have guessed. Then we got to explore the museum. That was kind of crap, but I bought Pride and Prejudice at the end from the shop because Leah almost killed me when I told her I'd never read it. I figured I liked the movie enough, it'd be worth it and now it's rivaling my school reading. Stinkin' good books.

Just down the street from the exhibit was where Jane Austen lived for a bit. So we found that and took some shots too.



We spent the rest of the day just wandering the city. We walked our butts off. But it was worth it. Bath is a pretty unique city. All of the buildings are the same, and if we hadn't had a map, I'm pretty sure I'd have been lost. My favorite spot was this place that had massive trees, five of them. They were in the middle of a roundabout and had to be at least a hundred years old. I bet they were there when Jane Austen visited the city. The center is in Bath, not because she lived there briefly, but because her books give several references to the city and it's social life inspired a lot of her work.

I really enjoyed the trip. The only thing I would have done differently is found a pub to have a brew and watch the England soccer game that was on that day.

When we got back, we caught the second half of the England versus France rugby semi-final game. England won, but it came all the way down to the last few minutes. Then I watched the Indians game with Jack and Andrew, who are from Boston. I went to bed after the 5th inning when I realized I'd been up for 22 hours. It was a long, but good day.



Pictured above: The Great Bath from the east end; a view of the Avon River and the bridge that has shops on either side from the spot where we watched the rugby game; me, stalker like, at 25 Gay St. where Jane Austen lived; hugging one of the ginormous trees, Leah and I at the Roman baths, taking a moment.