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I had expected to put on a bathing costume and a fluffy towelling robe for my visit to Thermae Bath Spa. Instead, I was wearing steel-tipped boots, a hard hat, and a fluorescent green jacket. Six months after its heralded "opening date," it seemed Bath 's €30 million health and leisure complex still had a way to go.
Despite the protective gear, the atmosphere inside the glass and stone structure was decidedly more "‘backstage" than "building site." Everywhere, workers applied finishing touches to Nicholas Grimsby's design with a bit of painting here and a whir of sawing there. A subsequent glitch in the pool paint finish was to delay the opening still further, but when I was there, both the ground-floor Minerva bath and the open-air roof-top pool were steaming with the thermal mineral water that makes Bath " Bath ." Thermae Bath Spa lies only 100 metres away from the restored ruins of the Roman Great Bath. Ancient and modern baths tap into the same source: three springs that bubble up from a fissure in the Lias clay at the rate of 1 million litres a day at a temperature of 46 centigrade. Had the spa been open for business, I would have dallied in the whirlpool of the Minerva bath, before trying out the four steam rooms. Each room consists of a futuristic glass pod; in each I would have inhaled different oil mixed with the steam. Then, perhaps I would have had a hay wrap or a mud treatment. I'd have ended the day with a neck massage by the rooftop pool while enjoying the view over the city. As it was, I turned in the boots, the helmet, and the vest and set out to see Bath from the ground.At press time, the owners of the Thermae Bath Spa predicted an opening at the end of 2003 or the beginning of 2004.
In those days, visitors drank as much as a gallon of the water each day and still found time for a round of parties and theatre going. The town had its own master of ceremonies, the famous "Beau Nash," whose job it was to make the season go with a swing. Even without Beau's help, I found it easy to fit my own "season" into a long weekend. I wandered in and out of small museums, starting with the Roman Baths. This exhibit includes items that Romans had thrown into the waters for the attention of the Gods - coins, jewellery and pewter tablets inscribed with curses. These clearly describe the wrong complained of and helpfully list the suspects.
I also visited the Holburne Museum , the pride of Bath . It houses the eclectic collection of a 19th century English gentleman whose myriad of possessions included paintings by Turner and Guardi.I stopped for tea at Sally Lunn's, the oldest house in Bath , where the Bath bun originated over 300 years ago. I threaded in and out of antique shops and admired the 15th century cathedral and the Pulteney Bridge , one of only two bridges in the world with shops built on it. The only other such bridge is the Pont Vecchio in Florence .I sampled two magnificent hotels in Bath , each of which had it own luxurious spa. At the Bath Spa, I booked for a late day Indian head massage. But I lingered so long over tea in the Bath Spa's cosy library, I had to cancel or be late for a Peter Hunt production at the Royal Theatre. The next evening, as the cosseted guest of the Royal Crescent hotel, I could have enjoyed a session in the incense and candle glow of their holistic spa. Instead, I went for a pre-dinner cruise on the hotel's restored 1920's Thames River launch. The "Lady Sophina" carries eight passengers plus all the champagne they are likely to want for a two-hour cruise on the picturesque Kennet and Avon Canal . It put a whole new spin on "taking the waters" and seemed as good a therapy as any. IN BATH : THERMAE BATH SPA Tel: +44 (0)1225-780-308. THE BATH SPA Telephone: +44 (0)870 400-8222. ROYAL CRESCENT HOTEL Telephone: +44 (0)1225 823-333.
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Even without the Thermae spa, there is plenty to see in Bath . The town is a World Heritage Site, with no fewer than 140 historic terraces and individual buildings. In fact, film makers sometimes use its crescents of golden-hued townhouses and its broad pavements as stand-ins for 18th century London . It's easy to imagine figures from a Jane Austen novel peering through the rippled old glass of a windowpane. Beginning in the 1700s – and following three visits by Queen Anne – Bath enjoyed a very long period during which no one who was fashionable or rich (and preferably both) would miss "the season" in the town.Then, the high point of each day was "taking the waters" in the Pump Room. The original building, dating from 1795, was destroyed in the Second World War; however, a replica has since risen from the rubble. Inside the high-ceilinged Corinthian structure, you can hear a quartet playing chamber music and enjoy lunch or tea at a dainty table with a starched white tablecloth. The official "pumper" stands before the King's Spring, serving the rather murky looking water. Calcium, sulphate, chloride, sodium and iron are the main ingredients in this 43-mineral cocktail. They say it's the iron that gives it its characteristic flavour. It tastes as you'd imagine bathwater with a small "b" might taste; people once believed the water would cure everything from paralysis to gout. 
A bronze head of the goddess Minerva is one of the museum's chief treasures. Workmen found the head under Stall Street in 1727 when they were laying sewers. The discovery of the head eventually led to the unearthing of the silted-up Roman baths, forgotten since their destruction by the Saxons in the 5th century.Bath is small. I could have walked from one end to the other in an hour, but I never did. I paused at the Museum of Costumes in the Old Assembly Rooms, took a guided tour of the Jane Austen Centre and visited the Postal Museum . The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, was posted from this building.