JUNE7

Log

# June 7

There was honestly so much to talk about today, but I guess I’ll focus on the Roman Baths.

Sam suggested that we go to Bath and check out the ruins. At first, the idea felt strange to me because I do not naturally associate Roman history with England or the UK. But I guess the Roman Empire extended all the way into Britain, reaching almost as far as Scotland.

From what I remember reading, the baths were originally built sometime around AD 70 or 80. They were later buried for centuries, uncovered again around the 18th or 19th century, and eventually restored more extensively sometime in the 1980s. I may need to double-check the exact timeline, but the fact that any of it survived at all is pretty amazing.

The entrance to the exhibit was impressive. Bath Abbey is directly nearby, almost staring at you as you approach the baths. Unfortunately, the church was locked, so we could not go inside.

The Roman Baths exhibit was kind of expensive, but it was well worth it. It walked you through the history of the site with models and reconstructions showing how everything would have looked when the complex was active. There was the natural hot spring, the main pool, a cold pool, and a bunch of smaller auxiliary pools and rooms.

The natural spring is still there and still flowing. You can actually see how the water is channeled into the main pool. I dipped my finger into the water for a second. It did not really smell like anything, but the pool had a green tint to it and definitely looked dirty.

It was strange seeing water still moving through the same system after all this time.

The baths were not just a place where people went to sit in hot water. There were gym areas, massage rooms, steam rooms, and all kinds of other spaces where people could exercise, relax, and socialize.

It was basically a Lifetime Fitness for Jesus.

There were carvings and representations of Minerva throughout the exhibit. From what I understood, she was associated with wisdom and healing, and her presence was tied to the supposed restorative powers of the baths. Her face appeared everywhere: on the walls, in carvings, and on coins.

It was honestly impressive how well preserved the ruins were.

One of the most interesting parts was seeing the old heating system. They still had stacks of bricks and blocks that were used to raise the floors of the steam rooms. A fire would burn underneath, and the heat would travel through the open space below the floor. The raised floors allowed the rooms above to stay warm.

I kept looking at all of it and thinking about how much engineering knowledge went into building the place. It was not just some ancient pile of rocks. There was a real system behind it.

The exhibit also had small stations with cups that you could smell to get a sense of what the baths might have smelled like. When I think of ancient public baths, I imagine something sweaty and disgusting. They did not have modern soap or anything like that.

But honestly, it smelled pretty good.

To me, it smelled a little like a meat smoker. Kind of hickory-like.

Several rooms also had projected scenes showing what the spaces might have looked like when they were in use. They used transparent panels and projectors to create something almost like a hologram. You could see people undressing, getting massages, and moving through the baths.

The projections matched the proportions and perspective of the rooms really well. It made the ruins feel much more alive.

After finishing the exhibit, we talked more about the church, the stone blocks, and the way everything had been built. Then we walked through the streets of Bath and ended up at a pub called The Raven.

It honestly felt like the perfect pub to pick.

The place had multiple levels — maybe five or six — and it was slammed, apparently for good reason. We ended up sitting on the fourth floor at table 403. The table had a chessboard built directly into it, so we found some chess pieces and played a game.

Sam is currently beating me four games to nothing on this trip.

I do not want this to continue.

At this point, one of my goals for the trip is simply to beat Sam at chess once.

The pub itself was great. I ordered a Raven ale from a bartender who looked like he could have literally been Russell Brand. I also got bread and butter, because why not.

The server was cute and mentioned that she had previously broken both of her elbows in a cheerleading accident, which is a pretty wild detail.

Honestly, the trip has been two for two so far. Chirk Castle yesterday and Bath today were both great in completely different ways.

There is still a lot more I could write about. I may do a separate post about Minerva, the history of the baths, or some of the engineering behind the heating system.

But for now, the main thing I keep thinking about is how strange it felt to walk through a place that was built almost two thousand years ago and still see water flowing, floors standing, and pieces of an entire world still sitting there.

Then we went to a pub and played chess.

Pretty great day.