I took a bath in Bath

Ah, the Roman Baths (Bath, England). The place where the Romans built baths and a temple around naturally-occurring hot springs. In ancient times it was used, as its name suggests, as a place to take a bath. Even today, many of the ancient buildings and baths remain.

My Bath journey begins on Friday afternoon. I left straight from work (southside of London) and hurried up to Paddington train station (northwest corner) in hopes of catching the 5:36 train with Beth and Jenny. We met up and made it to the ticket counter with time to spare. We were planning to buy a round-trip ticket costing £48, and so you can imagine the shock when the ticket lady said one-way to Bath, £68. Turns out the price was significantly different because we were trying to leave at rush hour. If we waited until 7:00 p.m., the cost would go down. We waited. Beth, being our "mom," had packed a bag full of food and fruit juices. We plopped down next to a bronze statue of Paddington Bear, where we ate our picnic dinner.

The train was packed, but we ended up finding three seats together. We pulled into Bath train station around 8:45 and immediately started the next leg of our journey by foot. We were off to find our accomodations for the night, The Prior House Bed & Breakfast. After a few wrong turns down dark alleys we found ourselves on the right road. A feeling of deja vu swept over me. We walked and walked and finally there it was.... No, not the Prior Bed & Breakfast we were looking for... It was the hotel (bed & breakfast) I had stayed in with my Harlaxton friends three years ago. I told Beth and Jenny about it, and they thought it was a cool coincidence.

The sight of the hotel got me thinking... Three years ago when I left the steps of Hotel St. Clair I never dreamed I would be back in Bath, England, and definitely not this soon. So much has changed in those three years. Six new cousins born. Two loved ones lost. A college degree. A cruise to Mexico with friends. A heart attack scare. Roadtrips. Games won. Games lost. A little brother driving. A crown won. Mistakes made. And lessons learned.
I look back at myself three years and wonder if I had any idea what was in store for me. Unlikely.

Anyway, back to present day 2008... We found our bed & breakfast just around the corner. The owner and her husband were out for the evening but had left has a note with instructions to a hidden key. It was super sneaky.... like a scavenger hunt....James-Bond-style. Okay, so not quite that exciting. We found our room on the top floor. It was lovely. Three beds. Quaint.
I took the bed next to a painting of a windmill. :)

Saturday morning we rose early to find a full, continental-style breakfast spread in the dining room. After refueling, we went down to Bath Abbey (huge cathedral) to join a walking tour of the city. It was really interesting, and the tour guide knew his stuff. I learned a couple random facts... For instance, did you know all the gates, railings, posts, etc, in England are painted black? Well, they are. You want to know why? When Queen Victoria's husband Albert died in 1861 she ordered that all railings and such be painted black for her mourning. They remain black to this day.

After the tour I went shopping and bought a bathing suit. Yes, a bathing suit in England. Beth and Jenny decided they wanted to spend a few hours at the Thermae Spa. It's a recent addition to the city of Bath and apparently it's presence has caused quite a fuss. You see, it's a big deal to build a very modern-looking multi-million £ (pound) spa in the middle of a historical city such as Bath. We didn't let that bother us. We spent a few hours sitting in steam rooms and soaking in mineral baths, just as the Romans would have done. Well, not quite the same, but you get the idea. The coolest part was probably the roof-top bath. We relaxed in the open-air waters while looking over the beautiful city and adjacent countryside. (And at sunset! How lucky am I?!)

Cheers, everyone.
More adventure from the weekend to come later :)