Bath Time

Next destination with the BritRail southwest England pass: Bath, home of Romans, fashion, and mineral waters.  Made notable (at least to me) as the place where Jane Austen continually sent her characters to see and be seen.  Needless to say, Anna and I were strutting our stuff.

Prince Bladud. What a guy.

On our first morning in Bath, we took the advice of our kind proprietor and went on the free tour of the city, where we were treated to a fascinating historical synopsis of the place.  The history of Bath reminded me of the history of Sevilla, in terms of the various conquering peoples that inhabited and transformed the area in their own ways.  But in Bath instead of fighting they bathed and relaxed. 

Bath, like Sevilla, is founded on a legend.  Apparently ancient Prince Bladud caught leprosy and was magically cured by the mysterious waters of the hot spring here, after watching his pigs be cured.  Because they were leper-pigs, obviously.

When the Romans invaded they came with a bang, as per usual. The elaborate bathing house and temple complex that they built has been used by every civilization after them.  They erected their stone temples and walls, they bathed, they governed, they tossed hordes of Roman coins into their wells (an archaeological trove today) and just as suddenly as they had come conquering they were gone. The following Saxon and Norman invaders continued to regard the hot springs as sacred. 

that water looks appetizing, right? 

Hundreds of years later it became fashionable to “take the waters” in Bath.  Which meant parading around in the latest fashions, drinking ridiculous concoctions made from the mineral water, and generally having a jolly time. The hot water legitimately did make people feel better, as most of the aristocrats were dying slowly of lead poisoning.  Anna and I tried some of the water and almost choked it was so earthy tasting, but I plan on never being sick again. Knock on wood.  In addition to touring the Roman Baths we also went to the Fashion Museum.  I feel like a slob compared to every other century.  Shoutout to Haley Carlborg - there was a mannequin in the fashion museum wearing a fancy dress with Converse.  You go girl.

Our second night in Bath was taken up entirely with surfing the Internet trying to find somewhere to go next.  We had only planned as far as Bath, and I hadn’t anticipated every SINGLE room in southern England to be booked for this particular weekend  Unbeknownst to us it happened to be a bank holiday (I know, what?) and apparently every family was on vacation.  With the help of mom canvassing the web for us across the ocean, we ended up finding one room in a hotel in a tiny town on the coast called Sidmouth.  There was some handy late availability dinner-and-breakfast-included cheapish deal, and we jumped on it.  So off to Sidmouth next. Olay!