Taking a Bath

Our trip was coming to an end and it seemed like such a whirlwind that it was hard to take in all that we saw. Maybe that's why, today, DW and I still can't remember the trip in clear detail.

We were in the city of Bath, in England, for such a short time that I think of it as just a dip. As in, we just dipped our toes into Bath. Get it? (Of course you get it.)

Our destination was the Roman baths.

One of the things that I remember most about driving through the various towns and cities in Wales and England was that we never seemed to have any difficulty parking, no matter where we went. I mean, we did have someone key our rented Ford Fiesta, but we never had a problem finding a place to park the car. I'm generally a cheapskate when it comes to paying for parking, especially when I was young and didn't have much money in the first place, and I also had great luck in finding a free parking spot when there was very little available.

I remember that we parked our Fiesta on a side street, not far from Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, but on the opposite side from the River Avon. We walked the few blocks to reach our destination, crossing over the Pulteney Bridge, a bridge that is lined with various shops, much like the Ponte Vecchio, in Florence, Italy, and dates back to 1774.

The day was beautiful, with lots of sunshine and warm temperatures. Around the Abbey Churchyard and in Kingston Parade, the plaza between the church and the baths, buskers of all types were entertaining the visitors. DW and I didn't stop, didn't waver from our quest. We had a lot of travelling to do on this final full day with our rental, and we didn't have time to waste. Perhaps, after our tour of the Roman Baths, when we planned to stop for a bite, we would watch the entertainment.

Romans built a temple on this site between 60 and 70 on the Common Era calendar. They named this settled area Aquae Sulis and the actual thermal spring was made into what was known as a thermae, a large imperial bathing complex. The baths were used until the fifth century, when the Romans left Britain, and 100 years later, the whole complex lay in ruins.

The area was redeveloped several times over the following centuries and eventually the spring, bath temple, and a museum were preserved. Today, it is one of England's biggest attractions.

It really is quite impressive, especially when you stand on one corner of the bath and gaze up toward the street level and the imposing abbey spire. It's as though you're looking at two separate time periods at the same time.

The bath lies in an open-air area below street level and looks like a modern-day swimming pool, though bathers are not permitted in it. I remember the humidity as we were led by a tour guide around the pillars that support the upper deck. We finished the tour, snapping some photos along the way, explored the museum, and then headed out for lunch.

Before leaving the city and heading to our next destination, there was one other famous landmark in Bath that we wanted to see. We hopped in our Fiesta and headed to the northern end of the city centre, and drove around The Circus, a large road circle that has a treed island and is enclosed by massive, curved Georgian townhouses. Built between 1754 and 1768, the name is Latin for circle. 

There were no elephants or big tent, and I was the only clown there.

We swung onto one of the three spokes of The Circus and stopped at No. 1 Royal Crescent, a sort of half-circus, of 30 uniform, Palladian apartments that form a massive crescent.

A couple of quick snaps and we were on to our next destination, which I have touched on briefly when I was setting up for this series of travel blog posts.

The journey concludes tomorrow. Or does it?

Stay tuned.