As we were getting ready to go at shortly after 6 am, I managed to smack the hanging light fixture with my arm, knocking it onto the bed. after examining the decapitated light, I discovered that I didn't just knock the glass off, but the WHOLE FIXTURE. It looked like the same set-up as a speaker, with two twined wires fitting in two holes. When we went down stairs I told them "it fell down this morning". As we left I observed to Karen that I may not be the "Sultan of Spin", but I do have my moments.
We were at Victoria by 8 am where we ate breakfast pasties and waited for the information center to open (about an hour late), only to find that we had to go to the ticketing stand to get our tickets validated (we bought four-day flexi-passes for Brit Rail). The ticketing stand in question is inside and to the right (w.r.t. the information center) next to YUM Sushi (or some such).
We rode to Paddington station (via the Circle line) and (at 8:52) quickly wrote in our passport numbers and first day of use and boarded the 9:00 for Bath. And while riding the train out of town, for the first time since we dropped below the clouds on entry there was SUN. Except all possible happiness of said sun was tempered by the fact that my rear-facing seat gave the sun line-of-sight on my face, and hence my eyes. Dubious pleasure indeed.
***Reading
***Didcot Parkway (I kept trying to snap pictures, but the motion-blurs were bad.)
NUCLEAR POWER!!!! Silos were everywhere, it was awesome! I got several nice shots on our train journeys, including a nice shot of a cluster just past Didcot Parkway.
***Swindon (10:00)
(Karen missed some sheep here, which was disappointing (walking yarn factories that they are), but we saw enough others that I doubt very much she remembers missing these...)
***Chippenham
***Bath: We de-boarded and walked out onto the streets of Bath. It was a beautiful blue day.
The Roman Baths were extremely easy to find (by following the tourists and the signs) where we bought tickets for the self-guided audio tour (£10 each). We listened to every segment (except those meant specifically for children), and it was a pretty decent piece of time before our feet started to hurt (a lot).
Before heading out into the baths we stopped to do a little gift shopping. We bought several bottles of water from the baths, a circular piece depicting the head of a male gorgon (we had seen the big version of it earlier), and some post cards.
A couple of rooms before the gift shop my batteries gave out. I changed them for some not meant specifically for electronics, and they died extremely quickly. (Just outside of the Roman Bath museum I bought 2 four-packs of the better batteries for £8 total.)
After the tour, while Karen was browsing around the second (larger and street-accessible) gift shop, I asked for directions (to the post office). A glass of mineral water from the spa was free with admission (50p otherwise). My first sip was almost ok, but the second sip was FOUL!!!
Postage for a post card to the US was 50p (reasonable and easily done).
After the post office, we walked around the city loosely in search of the Walrus and the Carpenter (an eclectic pub mentioned in Lonely Planet England). We saw the circus, a cute little dog, Jane Austin's museum gift shop (to get a souvenir for Karen's mom) and finally to the Walrus and the Carpenter. It was £4.95 for my hummus sandwich + £1.65 for chips (fries). Karen got Sausage and Mash for £7.95 and we each got a coke (mine was especially tasty, though it wasn't because cokes in England are better, because that was generally not my experience). The decor was great, the waitress was cute and friendly, and it was nice to be off our feet. The bill was £17.10 (I left £21).
I commented on the decor, and she asked if we were artists. Apparently they have a napkin-art board. I did a little topology (complete with knot diagrams, and an inadvertent (small) error), we paid and left.
Next we went to Bath Abbey (stopping first at Minerva Chocolates for an amaretto truffle and a rose and violet cream truffle) where we declined to pay the requested £1.50 each donation. My memory card ran out after 1300 pictures, so I tried the 2 GB card (which didn't work). Also, while installing it, my batteries fell out (and one of them went through the grate in the floor). I got upset and left quickly (to distance myself from the site of my torment). I bought a 1 GB memory card (£39), and since there was a view I had forgotten I really wanted, we went back and I snapped a few shots.
We caught the 4:12 back. On the train I got up and (CROSSING CARS) got us water for £1.25. We stood between the cars while waiting to de-board. We had a little trouble leaving Paddington (we "pulled a beltway": went the wrong direction, so reversed after one stop). we stopped by our Sainsbury's Metro for water and a Turkish Delight (nothing delightful about it, by the way) and the Sainsbury's Local for a sausage roll (69p) a chili chicken kebab (£1.49) a pint of Bulmer's Cider (£1.39) and an enormous Toblerone. The food was GOOD! Really really really good, and wonderfully affordable.
Karen watched some show on BBC 2 where they did terrible things to a Toyota truck (and it still started), played hockey with suzuki's, raced Lamborghini's, did a "van test" or something. I don't know, because I slept. : )
We ended the night watching "Is Benny Hill still funny?"
Guess what...it is.
Tomorrow (Day 7): Canterbury.
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13 July 2007: HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY to us!!!
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