The Roman whiff

Bath is about two hours away from Cardiff by car. On arriving, the nearest parking available was four storeys below the ground level near the Bath abbey. I stepped out of the car parking on to the main street and was undecided which direction to head. The left promised those tiny little shops out of Jane Austen's novellas and the right would take me to the royal crescent. After much thought , and consulting google maps on my smart phone I shortlisted three destinations on my agenda for the day, the royal crescent, the thermae spa and the circus. I planned to whisk through the museums on the way. With my 'to see' list in my head, I started walking uphill to the main city.Bath is a walled city with evidence of Georgian architecture at every turn. It still has remains of the old Roman ruins which existed around 8 feet below the present day city. On asking around for directions, a local shopkeeper told me the shortest possible route to the popular attraction. Only two flights of almost hundred stairs each , few lefts and rights and at last he added three to four walk straights and, follow the signboards. While everybody else was still figuring out directions, I was transported back to the time when the Romans began living closer to the baths. This initiated the foundation of the city of Bath. This picturesque town was the home to natural hot water springs and was now the only drawcard of Roman ruins in the whole of England. History has it that the Romans built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the river Avon around hot springs. Quickly recollecting all my knowledge of this city from the Anglo-Saxon literature classes while in college, my thoughts were diverted by the public gardens along the way. They were spectacular and the well maintained Georgian houses complimented their beauty. To me, I felt that I was flipping through Austen's books and living her stories set in Bath. The golden coloured bath stone gave the city that Roman touch. After walking for about 20 mins, I finally arrived at the royal crescent. It was actually a colony of almost thirty houses built closely interwoven with each other and when seen at a glance resembled a crescent moon, thus the name. Surrounded by a lush green park, it was a perfect spot to sit on a sunny day out. About 500 feet down the lane was the royal circus, which was actually three long, curved terraces together  actually designed keeping the Roman colosseum in mind. The architect must have tried to create a theatre or space for community activities like that in Rome, I thought. Along the way, I was amazed at the rich cultural heritage  which I witnessed. This city had a Fashion musuem, a postal musuem, a musuem for East Asian Art, a musuem of Bath at work, the Jane Austen musuem and finally a musuem of Astronomy to its credit.My next stop, infact the most awaited one was the thermae spa . Bath other than being a world heritage site, is also popularly known as the spa city since the Roman times and for the record has the best spa centre in the country. Short on time, all I could do was visit the reception, pick up a leaflet and simply swoon over all the enticing packages. The top of this building, on whose ground floor I was standing with my eyes and gap wide open was actually a terrace converted into a hot water bath spa. Snapping back into reality, I took to my heels and steered through the colourful town bustling with people and musicians playing on the street. On the way to the Bath abbey, I picked up free samples of hand-made caramel white chocolate. It was blissful. The abbey was the only standing gothic church in England and located right next to it was the Bath musuem which housed the natural water springs. After a quick brief with the springs and the history revolving around it, I made one final halt at the Pulteny bridge which rests on it the local shops and bistros. Travellers staying longer can also go for a boat ride down the river from the Pulteny bridge to experience the just perfect sunset. A day was well spent and I was already picturing the following day in the beautiful University city of Cambridge. And yes, my discovery for this trip was a much smaller version of the Egyptian pharaoh on the gates in front of the victory memorial. Remnant of the Egyption architecture in the dominance of Georgian style, insignificant but interesting to the bug's eye.