Don't Touch the Water!

This past weekend, Jeff and I decided to visit a few cities in England.  We left early on Saturday morning to visit the city of Bath.  One major difference that set this city apart from other English cities was the color of the buildings.  All of the buildings were a light tan color, rather than the normal red brick look in other cities.  It was very beautiful.

The view as you're walking into the city centre

Bath is known for the Roman Baths, which are one of the best preserved Roman remains in the world.  The area has over 1 million liters of natural spring water flowing through.  The water's temperature is around 46 degrees Celsius (over 114 degrees Fahrenheit). You are not allowed to drink or even touch the water given it is untreated and you could get incredibly sick.  Guess who touched the water? Jeff...

One of the spots you could see of water still running through the grounds.  They showed this stream of water flowing from one part of the building to another. 

If you look closely you can see the steam above the water.

It was great to walk around with our free audio guides to learn about the history, and see the main area where the Roman's used to bath.  They had many artifacts that were used during that time, ro even things they found in the baths like coins.  One of my favorite things they found were stones from rings that were worn.  Since the water was so warm, the gems would come loose and they found them at the bottom of the baths.  There were so many intricate details that made them quite unique.  Within the grounds, there were many different areas, although the main bath (largest) is in the picture below.

 The main bath

There were other areas inside the buildings that used to hold water, but has dried up since.  We were looking in one area, and Jeff actually spotted a rat. Gross. Although the water was gone in these areas, you could see the remaining steps and even the platforms they used raise the floor to heat it below.

The platforms they used so heat could travel below the floor of the bath. 

Since you were not able to touch the water in the baths, they had a special spot where you could taste the same water, only it was purified. It was warm, so it didn't taste the best to me. 

For any Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) fans out there, Bath is where she lived.  I think she used many of the sights in Bath in parts of her novel, although I cannot confirm that fact.  We walked around the city to see the Bath Abbey, which was beautiful although we did not travel inside.  I did make a special note to take a picture of angels climbing Jacob's ladder.

We ended our time in Bath eating at a local pub where Jeff got this cute little pie with a "B" on it.  How perfect!? We went to the Assembly Rooms. This building consisted of 3 main rooms, and were used for the fancy people of the time to have parties and gatherings.  They were currently setting up for some sort of wedding or party, so we weren't able to travel freely from room to room.  The pictures were not too exciting, so please click the link in this paragraph if you'd like to learn more or see pictures.

We ended our time in Bath looking at The Circus, which was pretty hard to photograph given it was in the shape of a circle.  The word "circus" in England can mean multiple roads that join together to form a circle.  We have one right outside our house here in Nottingham, and quite a few on my running route.  After that we went to the Royal Crescent, which was impossible to take a picture of given how large it is. It is a row of houses, a hotel, and a museum.  It was used in many film productions, and is a major attraction in Bath. Just obviously not easy to photograph, unless you're in the sky. 

 The circus

 The best shot I could get of the buildings. I didn't get them all in it, but at least you can see the curve.

On to the next adventure...