Krista is no longer in England. Sometimes she wishes she was back there.: January 30, 2005

My trip to London's Docklands. This is a former area of docks, but as its use for shipping declined, and later after it was heavily bombed during WWII, its use was transformed to very posh high rise towers. On the left is an original warehouse that was originally 1/2 mile long, but was bombed so much that it's not nearly as long. Inside is the Dockland's Museum.

Lloyd's in London. Not the bank; the insurance underwriters. The system is very much like the medieval system: negotiations and transactions are all done in cubicles in a face-to-face way. We couldn't go in; no one but employees can.
This building is an example of "modernism" at its best. Modernist architecture is simple and functional. This is so functional that it doesn't even have walls. The stairs, heating pipes, lifts, and even washrooms are outside of the main building; there is no facade enclosing the building in this way. It is also self-sufficient; they use heat exchangers to heat or cool the building without drawing on electricity.

This is No. 1 Poultry. It's supposed to be a combination of Aztec/ Mayan/ Egyptian / neoclassical architecture. The sand of the facade is half English and half Australian. There's a medieval passage that goes through the middle of the building; when it was built, the building was not allowed to destroy this passage.

A view of the Roman Baths, with the Bath Cathedral in the background. The natural hot springs that feed these baths were here before the Romans. Celtics / native Britons used the hot spring for bathing, but without the elaborate structure. The springs were surrounded by marshes, so it was not frequently used. The area around the springs was, at that time, marshy, until the Romans built it up into these elaborate structures. Obviously, to both cultures, the idea of a warm spring was incredible, so they thought the sight was divine. Now we know how the water is naturally heated, but they thought it was the work of gods / goddesses.

Bath, England is named for the ancient Roman Baths that are here. This is one of the springs straight from the source. This water is so pure that it's drinkable. And for only 50p, I could've had a glass. I prefer to save my money for other things; besides, I've had highly mineralized water before. Although the water in the pools (below) is also pure when it goes into the pool, the pool is much to contaminated to drink from.

Another shot of the main bath. There are east and west baths at opposite ends, which were intended for women and men to bathe separately. Over time, the men and women started to mix in the baths and this separation lost its function. When there was too much fraternizing in the baths, the Roman Emperor first tried mandating separation, but when that didn't work, he declared that baths were illegal.

One of the best preserved statues of Athena / Minerva in the world.

Eveline and me in one of the smaller baths. When the Romans built it up, they dedicated it their goddess, Minerva (the Greek Athena) and to the Celtic equivalent, Sulis. Hence, there are dedications to Sulis-Minerva. Both were goddesses of wisdom, though I can't quite remember why the baths were dedicated to goddesses of wisdom. The Romans rarely assimilated cultures, but embraced foreign gods and goddesses, either adding them to their "repertoire" or finding a similar equivalent in their own culture.

Justin, me and Dennis in the Roman Baths. The Baths were, at one point, entirely covered. The roof had caved in on the main Bath, so in the 19th century they cleared it out and added some statues of famous Roman leaders around the outside.

Eveline, Dennis and I.

Dennis, me, Eveline, Jeremy and Justin in front of the main bath. It was more of a warm swimming pool. In the west and east baths, there were hot pools (like hot tubs), saunas and cold pools. The idea was to go from the sauna, which was so hot that you couldn't remain in it long, straight to a cold pool. Then you alternated between the cold pool and hot pools.

The Roman statues around the outside of the main bath, where the roof used to be. Don't they look authentic? But really, they're 19th century replicas.

Here are the remains of the floor, mostly fallen down now, in the "sauna." The heat from the water circulated beneath the columns, heating up the raised floor. The heated floor in turn heated the whole room into a Roman sauna.

A blurry picture of me with Justin, Eveline, Dennis and Jeremy. The water here was very warm, but it's no longer safe to swim in: there's too much algae because of the exposed water since the roof caved in.