Taking a Bath

Nick spent a weekend recently with some work friends travelling down to the Roman town of Bath in southwestern England. Other than London, this has been our first foray into the south, though we have plans to start exploring that area of the country next. On the way down we saw this welcome sign on the highway, and it brought a tear to my eye for the sweet land of Penn’s woods. This English Pennsylvania doesn’t give beautiful PA, USA much competition, since as far as we could tell it consisted of 300 yards of road and a Shell gas station, but the sign was thrilling. I wonder if that Shell attendant appreciates what a well-named town he’s working in.

Bath on the other hand, was really nice, and thinking about it may have been the last weekend it didn’t rain here (2 months ago?!). It was the only time yet this summer that I needed sunglasses, but my cool new £4 H&M aviator glasses let me down like it was their job, with the metal frames staining my skin green. I had these green lines under my eyes that made me look like I got beat up by the Incredible Hulk.

Other than having a stained green face, it was a fun weekend of sightseeing and getting to know some friends from work better. The main attraction of the town is the ancient Roman Bath house, which still has hot water bubbling up into the main spring today. You can taste the water (which was HORRIBLE) at the “historic” pump house and it makes you really appreciate how far humanity has come: from drinking this awful warm brew of 50 minerals, to eating chewable Flintstones vitamins to get our nutrients today. I’ll take the Flintstones any day. Orange please.

Check out some pictures of our adventure in cleanliness here.