Bath

I returned late last night (1:30 am, in time to catch the second half of the Super Bowl) from a weekend trip to Bath and the Cotswalds in the English Countryside west of London. Last night and today it snowed here - 8 inches - which the BBC is reporting is the biggest snowfall in England in about 20 years, and is causing all sorts of school closures and transportation issues. 50 mile highway backup, no trains or buses, no flights, etc. The weather over the weekend was pretty cold, but no rain or snow...so the sightseeing was decent.

I stayed with an English man named Andrew who lives in the village of Cirencester, who was a gracious host and knowledgable tour guide. The stay was organized by a non-profit group called HOST UK, which organizes weekend stays for foreign students with British families. I flew down to London on Friday night, rented a Ford Fiesta stick shift, and made it to Andrew's home after having to stop twice for directions. No big problems driving on the left hand side of the road - you get used to it pretty quickly. The tricker part is keeping the car in the right position because I'm not used to driving from the right side of the car.

On Saturday we went into Bath, an ancient Roman settlement around some natural hot spings that remains a destination city today - spas, shopping, restaurants, etc. On the way over we passed by Prince Charles' estate - I hadn't realized he lived in the countryside. The buildings are all a light yellow limestone - quite striking - and the city is home to dozens of historical landmarks of the Jane Austen age. We started our day by visiting the modern mineral spa - a series of public pools, whirlpools, steam rooms, etc. Very relaxing. After lunch at the spa's restaurant surrounded by about 20 people in their bathrobes, we headed over to the Roman Baths to see what the same experience was like 2000 years ago. The baths are incredibly well preserved.




On the terrace above the main Roman bath, with the 500-year old Abbey in the backround.



Looking down on a Roman "priest" near the main pool. This would have been an indoor pool in Roman days, so the water would have been much clearer.



Looking up at the Abbey from the baths' ground floor.





Looking below the floor of a Roman engineered steam room - stacks of hot tiles.



A beautiful Victorian pub built on top of the baths offers glasses of mineral water from the Springs drawn from this fountain. When I tried it, my taste buds immediately realized they'd tried this water before - it tastes just like Sebewaing, MI city water. Maybe all those complaints about the sulpheric taste are misplaced - Sebewaing might be drinking mystical waters of the gods.







Statue outside of the abbey.



Look at all those old chimneys.



Giant circular housing development called the Circus, circa mid 1700s - still used as residences today. 18th century version of cookie-cutter subdivisions, I suppose.



Looking down a main street in Bath.