Time for a bath!

Yes, we are back to adventuring after a two week lull. We were busy unpacking our furniture that finally arrived after two months.

Our first stop in Bath was, you guessed it, the famous world heritage listed Roman baths and what a treat, definitely worth the entry fee. You get to check out all the ancient ruins, all the different rooms and pools they would have had back then including a steam room as well as seeing the still bubbling up hot spring of the orignal pool. You can't swim in it though, but the lovely commercial sector have been kind enough to open a new fandangled one, very nice but none of the romance or style of the old one, and it costs twenty pounds to get in.

The first photos here are of the original pool (almost 2000 years old and still working!), the second image has the steam rising off the water and the third image is supposed to be an ice cold pool that you went in after the steam room, clearly now used as a place for folks to keep their spare change! The image with the little piles of red stone are the raised floor so the hot air from the fires could keep the floors warm.








After the tour through the baths you end up in the restaurant which gives out free spring water, but remember folks this is a hot spring, Ben was brave enough to try it but alas I was not quick enough to catch the face he made as he drank it, it was quite funny. (Tastes like warmed up water that's been sitting in an old tarnished copper pot for 1000 years -- Ben)



Next stop was the lovely Bath Abbey. This place has the most amazing ceiling of which I have included two images. The others are of the front window, organ and directly outside. It also has a cool tradition of praying every hour for the world, they invite whoever happens to be there at the time to join in. Very nice.







Next it was on to the very beautiful Pulteney Bridge and the even more impressive Avon river running under it. We were lucky enough to get a seat in a cafe on the river for dinner. This beautiful river winds its way all through Bath and of cause it goes up through Strathford upon Avon. We are hoping to hire a barge and do this trip sometime soon.