An afternoon in Bath

We had a bit of an early start this morning, checking out of our apartments at about 9.30 am and made our way to Paddington Station for our train to Bath. Paddington was HUGE! But James wouldn't let me get lost! The whole experience was kind of surreal for me - huge station, large trains, a zillion platforms....I've decided that England is just like Harry Potter :) Or maybe more likely, Harry Potter is a good representation of England....but anyway after about an hour and 40 minute train ride we were in Bath! They charged us an extra 10 quid to check in early which I thought was a bit on the nose considering the room was already ready, but it meant we could dump our luggage, eat our packed lunch and venture out into the city of Bath.

The weather was a bit dodgy but we managed to avoid any major showers of rain, and got to have a reasonably good look around the city which has really beautiful architecture and the very beautiful Avon river.

                                 

We then made our way to the Roman Baths, our main reason for visiting, and if I thought we were leaving the crowds behind in London then I was sadly mistaken!

But the baths were worth all the pushing and shoving, at least in my opinion. There was the main pool which is what is shown on all the advertisements:

     

Then there was a kind of wishing fountain pool which the Romans (and many visitors) throw tokens into.

                                     

But what amazed me most was the amount of empty pools and Roman Relics. The pictures below are of the deep immersion treatment pool and the main swimming pool.

     

The Roman relics included beautiful carvings/sculptures that have been saved, gravestones, remnants of their underfloor heating systems and utensils.

We ended up making our way through reasonably quickly due to the crowds, and then we made our way to the local swimming pool to relax in the spa. We had been intending to go to the Thermae Spa which is made in a similar style to the Roman Baths and uses the same thermal water, however we really could not justify the 30 pound each, so we settled for the local pools which was probably the quieter and more relaxing option in the end anyway!

We explored a bit more of the area before having dinner at a local pub, and we had the pleasure of listening to a local brass band and getting a glimpse of one of the parks as we walked across the bridge.

     

Dinner for me was an amazing Japanese curry and we ended the day by witnessing a skeleton riding a bicycle...as you do...

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