BATH--Sept.23

In one word, Bath was breathtaking. Walking around for the first time I was just in awe. I arrived at sunset and after walking in a HUGE circle to find my hostel that I blatantly missed. It was very colourful and a lot of stairs to my room on the top floor. It was EXACTLY what I imagined a hostel to be. Lots of young foreign people, lots of dorm beds, and lots of commotion. I couldn't believe how deserted Bath was at night. My hostel was a 2 min. walk from the ancient Roman baths situated on a hot spring. Right across from the Baths was the grand Cathedral and Pump House, where the spring water is pumped to drink. I was also surprised to find Bath so new looking. The light coloured Bath stone had been recently cleaned in most of the city. The buildings all looked the same, square blocks. There was no intracate design like the medieval and gothic roofs, but very high-class shopping and expensive restaurants. I imagined Bath to be quaint and picturesque, with cute little shops, but no, it was soooo expensive there! It was beautiful by the river and the park--which you had to pay to get into!!!! IMAGINE THAT!

To get through the evening I came across this tour called "Bizarre Bath" which was not a historic tour at all, but just a comdey tour. It was actually pretty funny...and got weird at many parts. One funny part was when a kid yelled something stupid at our group and the comedian said to us "It's a wonder how that sperm got through."

I was up super early the next morning..probably because I went to sleep so early because I had nothing to do. Given this, I was the first person in the Roman Baths :) WOW! There was this steaming coming from the water. The temp. is kept at 46 degrees celsius. It was so surreal to stand on something so ancient and so full of history! Holy crap! People actually used this! It was pretty amazing. I took like 50 pics just of the Bath. hahhaa. I managed to make it to a free walking tour of Bath which was great!! So informative! Our guide was even cool enough to bring pictures and maps etc. to help explain things. I LOVED the Assembly rooms we went into. They basically were large rooms where public functions took place in Victorian times, such as balls. They were gorgeous and so elegant. I actually ate lunch there because I couldn't find anywhere else!

I really just wanted to get a good look at the country so I caught a bus up this massive hill to Beckford's Tower. It's not very well known I don't think b/c it's outside the cty centre, but I'm so glad I went! There was a spectacular view of the Cotswolds (hills) all around. You could see all the houses embedded into the hill side and horses in the fields miles away. The map said to keep an eye out for those white horses made into the hill. Sadly, I did not see this. boooooooooo. It was so nice to be in the open air, especially because it was nice weather! It was very tranquil and peacefull up there. The walk down the massive hill was tough. I think I still have shin splints. But the pain was worth it because it was so nice to get out of a city.

The river.
A bridge. lol. But this is not just ANY bridge! It has shops on it!! One of five in the world I believe I read that was built to house..well shops.
A top view of the baths with some dude to the right. I think these statues were Roman emperors? I can't remember.
Looking down into the bath. You can see the steam! oh la la!
Run-off from the "King's spring", the hot spring the Baths were made from. You could feel the heat just standing there!
The King's Bath. It was used in the 19th century to "heal" sicklings. People would sit in here up to their necks for 2 hours. Oh and there were actually BUBBLES! Not because the water was boiling, but b/c of some sort of chemical reaction...strange.


I think this is the frigidarium, also known as the cold bath everyone jumps in to cool off all the oils and dirt that was scraped off of them by servants [remember Alice! :) ]...it's neat because I learned ALL about the things that go on here in Roman Culture class. woo hooo! Oh and all those shiny things in the pool are coins that people have thrown in for good luck. I couldn't believe the number of $ bills. Honestly, who throws $ notes into a pool?? duh.

If you can imagine, there used to be a floor on top of these tiles...so that the fires from beneath could heat the room where the floor is. Coooooool!, or should i say, HOT! lol.

One of the Assembly Rooms. *taken from a book. Just like Newport, R.I.!

The Royal Crescent. There were actually a lot of this rounded architecture in a couple spots in Bath. There are really houses, even though I know it looks like it could be a Parliament building.

A view of the Cotswolds (Englands name for this large hilly area in the South East)

One of the "white horses" embedded in the landscape that I did NOT see from the tower. Sighhhh. That would've been cool. I did see a few towers of Warwick castle on the bus ride though. :)

um, landscape. *drool
Beckford's Tower and encompassing cemetery