Bath, England

We visited the town of Bath and went to the Roman Baths that were built nearly 2000 years ago.  The ancient Romans believed that the springs were healing and that they were sacred.  They would bathe in the water to sooth their muscles and heal their wounds.  This is part of the Temple of Sulis Minerva the Goddess of the thermal spring.  Ancient Romans would pray to the godess  for wishes to be granted by performing a sacrifice or making a gift in hope their prayers would be answered. 

The baths are heated by the hot springs underground which are the only thermal springs in the U.K.  The springs flow at 13 meters per second and the temperature of the water is 46oC.  There are 43 different minerals in the water but the main ones are calcium, sulphite, sodium and chloride.  The King's Bath bubbles like a spa due to gases from deep in the earth escaping, it was very cold that day so we wanted to jump in!   We tasted the water, it didn't taste very nice because the water was warm and the minerals tasted strong.

There were seperate sections of the baths.  There  were hot ones, warm ones and cold baths to cool down and refresh.  Some of the Roman men would jump straight into the cold water to impress the crowds.  You could have a massage with warm oils, have a scrub and socialise.  There were steam rooms that were heated by fires under the floor.  There were tiles stacked in piles to hold the floor up above the hot coals.  The floors were so hot that they had to wear wooden sandles to keep their feet from burning.  When the baths were first built men and women were allowed to bathe together, later on  the culture demanded that men and women be seperated.

I thought that the Roman Bath was magnificent and really calming.  It was interesting to see all the artifacts including old coins, stamps, jewellery and a man  burried in a lead lined coffin under the city of Bath. It was nice to be warm on a cold day.

After we visited the Bath History of Fashion Museum.  Dad and Drew thought it was boring!!  Mum and I loved looking at all the dresses that they used to wear.  Mum made us dress up in Georgian costume, Drew wasn't very impressed!!

Hannah