A Day Out in Bath

We had a day and a half in Bath. We arrived too late in the day to tour the ancient baths but we were right on time for a boat trip on the River Avon. (By the way, not THE River Avon that goes through Stratford-upon-Avon - apparently there are something like five River Avons in the U.K. As I understand it, Avon (or something close to it) was the Celtic/Gaelic word for "river" - which helps explain why there are so many of them.

We got up early the next morning and went to the ancient Roman baths. I didn't know it would be as interesting as it was. Mark told me he visited there years ago and it was some pools with pigeon poop in them. Not anymore. While you're not to touch the water, it is relatively clean and the audio tours provide various levels of information so you can get as much or as little as you want about whatever it is you're looking at. Aquae Sulis is part spa, part temple. Just so amazing what they were able to accomplish in the first century. The town and the baths were built by Roman settlers in Britain around 40 to 60 AD. Mark's opinion of the place has changed completely!

We also had a stroll around the cathedral. Having been in so many of England's cathedrals, I limit myself these days to the ones that don't charge admission. Since this one did, I only have photos of the outside.

Note the inscription - WATER IS BEST. Truly, it is.