Our visit to Bath

Our first
destination
in England was the elegant city of Bath. The city is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. We were very lucky with weather and had very little rain. We stayed in a beautiful apartment with the great address of 1 Hay Hill for the 3 days we were there. It was a former bakery that created the famous 'Oliver' biscuits, which are yummy cookies that are a cross between a cookie and a cracker and are magnificent loaded with strawberry jam and joined by a lovely hot cup of tea with milk. One of the great traditions of apartments and B&B's that you rent from in England is that they have all the makings of tea waiting for you when you arrive. When we arrived at our place in Bath, they had the Oliver biscuits, homemade strawberry jam and tea and milk and sugar ready and waiting for us. So our introduction to England was an easy plane flight, a smooth train ride with great scenery, a comfy and beautiful apartment and a special tea. Things were starting off great!




After freshening up a bit and enjoying our tea, we headed out the door to see Bath. It is such a pretty place. The buildings are mostly made from a limestone called "Bath" stone and it is a creamy yellowish color (although we read that during earlier centuries it wasn't so lovely because of all the soot that settled on it from so many fireplaces constantly burning). We walked into the center of the city and were struck by the many attractive buildings and the striking architecture. The 2 structures that dominate the city centre are Bath Abbey and the Roman Bath. Both are splendid.
Bath Abbey was our first experience with an extraordinary ancient church. Built in the Gothic style during the 7th century, we were awed by its age, its architecture, and the sheer size of it. This Abbey is over 1300 years old and seeing it began for us what has been a non-stop journey of one historical and spectacular sight after another.
We saw the Roman Baths the next day. What a sight to behold. It was buried for centuries and when uncovered, it was amazingly intact and well preserved. It dates to 60 - 70 A.D. and was the sight of a popular Roman public bath. The picture I took shows the temple that was built to house the Roman Bath House (which still has 'locker rooms' and private dressing rooms)(also, just beyond the Bath House, you can see Bath Abbey). The water is green looking, but we learned that this is algae reacting to the sunlight, and in the time of the Romans, the Bath would have been covered and so the water would have been clear. The clever workmanship of the Romans, the attractive craftmanship of the stone carvers, and the sense of serenity that you get walking through this place - I simply run out of adjectives to describe for you how cool it all is. The source of the water for the baths is a natural hot spring that bubbles up from the ground. The Romans, and those who came after, considered it a Sacred Spring. Those who came to bathe in the waters here believed in their power to heal and to maintain good health. There is still much interest in 'taking the waters'. In 1983, a new, 'clean' well was dug and the water from that spring is used at a modern Bath Spa today and is the water that you can drink in the 'Pump Room'. For 50 pence a glass (about .90 cents U.S.), you can drink to your health. We all shared a glass and while it mostly tasted like iron, we did feel surprisingly energized after partaking.