Bathing in Bath

Anyway, keeping in mind my goal of visiting the bath spa, I was facing some serious constraints- the spa opened at 9 and we needed to be checked out of the hotel by 11, the cost for 2 hours was about $40, and most seriously, neither Tay nor I brought bathing suits with us. I talked to the girl working the front desk at the hotel and she told me about a sports store down the street from the baths which were having serious blowout sales. (After the new year is serious sale season in the UK).

Tay and I worked out a plan for the following morning, which had to be followed in order for us to maximize our time at the spa.

7:45:00 alarm goes off
8:18:00 we go down to the hotel breakfast with hotel towels stashed in my backpack
8:35:00 left the hotel breakfast and set off for the sports shop
8:45:00 arrived at the sports shop and quickly searched through the store to find the cheapest bathing suits. Not Speedos, but close- swimming shorts which were shorter than boxer briefs. They were cheap- less than $9.

9:05:00 arrived at the spa.
10:35:00 left the pool
10:43:00 left the spa
10:52:00 arrived at the hotel, packed, dropped our wet hotel towels.
11:00:00 dropped keys and checked out.

The spa was really nice. When we check in, they gave us a chipped wristband, which we held to a plate to operate the turnstile letting us in. They actually give you an additional 30 minutes on top of your two hours in which to shower, change, etc. The locker rooms, which are the first room you must enter, were also very nice and unlike any other locker room I've been to. Unisex, the changing booths form a ring around the space you enter, and are bounded by two doors- one opening to the entrance, one towards the outer ring of lockers. You close both doors, change, and then open the doors again. You put your clothes in a locker and close the door, and then hold your chipped bracelet to a reader pad, which locks the locker and remembers your number for you. Towel in hand, we went first the large indoor pool.

The building seems to be supported by four large columns, which are expressed as giant funnel shaped mushrooms, which actually go into the pool. Several floors above, they are the in the centers of the the four circular glass steam rooms. The pool water was warm, not as hot as the springs come out naturally, but very nicely relaxing. There were seating areas with jets, fountains for a stream of water hitting your shoulders, and underwater jets which gently propel you around the pool.
The day after a bank holiday, on a workday morning, it was really quiet. We were actually the only ones in the pool for a long time. We got bored and wandered our way up to the rooftop pool. This is also a thermal bath, also totally empty. Five floors above the street, the roof pool had a great view of the surrounding old city and especially the Abbey tower. The rain was still drizzling town and in the cold air, the steam rising from the pool was whipped around by the wind. It was really great sensation actually, the cold rain and air and the warmth from the water. We spent a lot of time up there.

We did spend a little bit in the steam room too, which is a large chamber containing a huge warm shower in the center and four cylindrical glass pods containing four differently scented steam. The steam room walls were punctured with a grid of small, circular windows, perpetually fogged. After fifteen minutes in a steam pod, one could also walk directly out on the lower roof terrace for a bracing blast of cold air and rain.

After another soak in the rooftop pool, we changed and made our way to the exit. When you came back to the lockers, you held your bracelet to the panel and your locker popped open. The exit turnstile was pretty cool. The turnstile itself was unremarkable- the reader was cool. You held your chipped bracelet to a reader panel. The panel then slid open to reveal a small illuminated tray where you placed your band, and then the panel slid back over it and you were indicated to pass through. Maybe I'm just easily impressed.