We spent the day in Bath and got extremely lucky with the weather. We had bright blue skies and reasonable temperatures, which I think really made the day. Bath is a spa town only about 15 minutes from Bristol (it's been a spa town since before the Romans) and is built all out of sandstone-colored buildings, so it was nice to see it with bright sun and blue skies.
The entrance to the Roman Baths and an example of the color of all the buildings in Bath.
The Bath Abbey/Cathedral.
Bath has naturally occurring hot springs under it which were discovered thousands of years ago. The Romans came several thousand years ago and they built giant elaborate bath houses to make use of the springs. Then there were other spas for centuries and even today there's a modern spa. The main attraction in Bath are the remains of the Roman baths which were discovered in the 1700s/1800s and have been a major tourist site ever since. They were really very cool. They're below ground level because the ground was lower back in Roman times and the museum is built up and around it (which was built starting in the 19th century). It's all very well-done and very pretty and interesting!
The Roman baths below and the observation area above (built by people in the 19th century to better view the baths). When the baths were used by the Romans they were covered by an enormous roof and were inside a huge building.
Statues on the observation deck.
Looking over the baths with the cathedral in the background; as you can see, it would have been a bummer had it been cloudy and/or rainy.
Down on the lower level after we checked out some of the information inside about Roman history and the baths.
People have been throwing coins into fountains for thousands of years! The Romans used to do it as well. Though they also used to write "curses" on pieces of lead, usually complaining about people who had stolen things from them, and throw them into the springs as a way of complaining to the gods.
So the Roman Baths were very cool. After seeing them we decided to wander around the town a bit and we saw the Royal Crescent (expensive townhouses in a half-circle, like the pictures in Bristol - apparently that was a thing in the 19th century) and the Circus which is a big round-about in the center of town with fancy townhouses surrounding it.
The Royal Crescent - the fancy townhomes.
A pretty park we walked through.
The Circus - more nice townhouses!
I guess they just loved building on a curve.
And fancy ornamentation on the buildings...
After a good birthday lunch we checked out a Jane Austen museum. As much as I love Jane Austen (and I really adore her), it was okay. It wasn't her house or anything because she didn't live in Bath for long and there wasn't a ton of information, but I still learned some new things and enjoyed hearing about her since I love the books so much. It also gave me the opportunity to buy a keychain that says "I <3 Darcy" on it. And it inspired me to pick up those books again.
We also went into the cathedral which had some really nice stonework on the ceiling and wandered along the river as well. Pretty, pretty! Bath was so nice.
Walking along the river.
More river!
The inside of the cathedral and it's very amazing roof!
The cathedral walls and floor had an absurd amount of tombstones/stones in memory of lots of things.
Bath was really, really gorgeous and interesting - I'm so glad we went! I can't think of much else to say about it now, plus I'm sleepy cause it's about 3 a.m. here already. We don't have to get up early tomorrow since we'll tour around in the afternoon and then in the evening it's Michelle's birthday party. Then Saturday I'll go back to London with her and then I have my flight on Sunday morning. Unfortunately! I'd love to see more of the UK!
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