Day 3 (May 3rd, 2001)
The city of Bath is a perfect spot for a day trip. The easiest way to get there is by train. I arrive at the city at 10am, and tourist are still relatively scarce. There are free walking tours available to people who want to hear some histories of the city. The tour guide is a 50ish gentleman, an honorary guide (volunteer). Very talkative and humorous.
The history of Bath started during the Roman empire, which is around the 4th century AD. The hot spring discovered at this location was regarded to have divine healing power, for they do not understand how earth spurs hot water and the content of the hot spring that brings it the healing power. Soldiers wounded in battles far away would travel to Bath to bath in this holy water and recover their strength. Nobilities would also travel here to bath, to regain youthfulness so the guide said. A large stone bath house was erected around the hot spring. But what remained now is just a ruin. The bath house was left unattended after the fall of the Roman Empire until the 17th century. What remains now still shows the grandeur of this old bath house. Bases of pillars and broken curved stone pieces around the bath pools suggest there was once a doom over the bath pool. People around the Empire come here to bath and socialize and receive blessing from Sulis, the goddess of healing, and the guardian of the hot spring. Male and female has their own bath pool. The Roman developed a long bath process that can take an entire day. First a bather go to a warm pool to wash away the dirt and warm up the body. Then go into the hot pool, or the Great bath. After that, a bather can go to a room of dry heat (like a sauna). Then he/she receives massage from slaves. After the massage, the bather goes through the process in reverse order, and finishes off with a plunge in a cold pool. The whole thing is similar to a Japanese hot spring bath. And it was such an luxury at that time!
The Bath house lies in ruin until the 17th century when the British Royal family took interest in the healing power of the hot spring. The house was renovated. Victorian style building was constructed on top of the foundations from the Roman period. People can walk into the Bath house, and see what is remained of this place. You can also buy a glass of the bath water for I think 4 pounds that is said to restore health. Hmm...I tasted Glacial water from the Canadian Rockies, which is also said to contain minerals that is good for the body, and it was for free.
The tour takes us around the central area of the city of Bath. There are all sorts of renovation works going on on the historical building, which is like all the buildings in the city. There is the Bath Abbey. Much smaller and less magnificent compared to Westminster Abbey, but has a cozy feeling to it. The central plaza, around the Bath house and the Abbey, is too touristy with the assortment of souvenir shops and accessories stores. Well, I bought some post cards still, this is how I want to record the places that I been to on this trip. The postcards are always much better looking than my own photos :).
I admire the efforts the British government puts into in maintaining these historic buildings. There is an organization in UK that over sees the maintenance of various castles and palaces and historic towns. it is because of this kind of effort that these histories can be a part of today's history as well.