The Beautiful City of Bath

Today we walked, took a bus, caught a train and finally ended up in the beautiful city of Bath. I absolutely loved it. The train was about two hours long and mostly consisted of beautiful countrysides and cute little towns. It wasn't very crowded either, which was nice. I sat down and realized that I was facing backwards. So when I looked out the window everything looked funny, but I got used to it! I am SO glad I brought my Deuter backpack. It is the perfect size and I bring it basically everywhere I go! The train took us right to the town center and everything was within walking distance which was perfect. 

We decided that we all wanted to go to the Roman Baths so we headed there first. The line was long and we were told it would be about a 20 minute wait. Luckily our professor told us she would wait in line and we were free to walk around for a few. Right next to the line for the Baths was BathAbbey. It is a beautiful parish church which was once the great church of a monastery. It was free to go in and I am so glad I did. I am so amazed by the architecture and beauty of all the buildings. The Abbey dates back to 1499 when The Norman cathedral was in ruins and the Abbey church was founded to replace it. The Abbey was suppressed and largely destroyed in 1539 but in 1569 it was presented to Bath to become its parish church. It was re-roofed and fully repaired as it is today in 1611. 

After I visited the Church, the line had gone down quite a bit and before long we were headed into the Roman Baths. It was so fun to go with everyone! When you arrive you are given a walkie talkie looking thing that you wear around your neck. At each of the different stations/things to look at there is a sign with a number on it. You enter the number into your walkie talkie and then put it up to your ear and listen to someone talk about what you are looking at. It was the coolest thing. 

The baths amazed me. I can't believe that the Roman's actually used them to bathe in. They were a very spiritual place and Roman's used the baths as a source of healing. Geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 147.2 degrees Fahrenheit and 204.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

After the Roman Baths we decided to roam around for a while. We visited the Royal crescent which dates back to the 1770's. The architecture is really cool and it is a very popular tourist location. The building is still in use with residents living there and offices in some of the buildings. Unfortunately the public cannot actually see that much.

It was really fun to walk around and everything was pretty close. We eventually caught the train back to Dorchester and then the bus back to Bridport. From there we walked back to WestBay. We were lucky to have fairly good weather all day! It did rain for a while in Bath but it wasn't a bother at all. It was nice to have a day out, especially since tomorrow will be spent studying! 

-Taylor