Road Trip - Day 1 - Bath

I arrived in Bath around lunchtime, checked into the guest house, and headed back into town to do some site-seeing. I started by walking up the hill behind the guest house to reach the Royal Crescent, a supposedly famous place I've never heard of. I then walked towards the Royal Circus, a place I did know about. It's a circular grassy area with some huge trees and then buildings built in a circle with three roads entering the round-about.

Some of the buildings in the Royal Circus.

I then wandered down the hill into the main part of the city and got lost along the way, but the city is so tiny that I knew I would find a signpost quickly. All these touristy places have well-marked signposts to guide the way to the key sites and tourist information centre.

The Roman Baths was the first site I wanted to visit - I figured since I didn't know how long it would take to explore the city, I should start with the most famous site. While I was waiting in line to buy my ticket, my phone rang with a call from an employment agency! For the fourth time I had a job dangled in front of me and this seemed to be the most promising. (I found out the next day that the company decided to hire someone they already knew. Frustrating, but felt like a nudge from God telling me He'll provide when the time is right.)

Me at the 2,000 year old Roman Baths.
The columns are Victorian, but the footings and lead lining in the pool are Roman.

Gem stones found during excavations of the pools
The stones have tiny images engraved on them - speculation is that they either fell out of swimmers' jewelry or somebody tossed in a bagful as an offering to the goddess.

The baths wind around under the city and only a portion have been excavated. Wooden walkways are built over the rough remains underground and it's quite damp in order to keep salt from forming and the rocks from deteriorating. Hand-held audio devices are provided and numbers are on the walls at certain points so you can turn on that chapter and listen to a description of what you're seeing.

A drainage area from the pools - the orange deposits are found in many of the waterways.

I've only ever seen pictures of the classic Roman bath, as seen in the first photo. There are actually other baths that have been excavated and viewing them is part of the tour, they're just not as photogenic as the open one. There's a cold bath, a semi-circular bath for sick people, and other open areas for ceremonial purposes.

Sections of the floor were held up on massive areas built up on these "stilts". Hot air passed underneath and out through chimneys to warm the buildings.

Roman lead piping.

Original Roman footings in the main pool.

After wandering around the ruins I took the exit through the Pump Room. This room is a huge restaurant where cheap tourists like me have an area where we can walk through the room to wait for a server to come and let us taste the hot springs water. People describe it as "disgusting" so I was a bit apprehensive about tasting it, but it's actually not bad. Tastes fine as you drink it but then there's a metallic after-taste which doesn't last long.

The famous fountain in the pump room.