Bath - Day 6 - "Here Comes the Sun" (stupid sun...) - or, "Six of One..."

28 December 2006

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!!!

London - Day 5 - "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary!"

27 December 2006

The plan: eat breakfast at the "hotel", take the tube to the Tower gift shop, see the Bank of England Museum (gift shop), the British Museum, and Leicester Square for tickets to something.

Headlines from BBC 1: President Ford died @ 93; Blair, (BA209) overshot runway in Miami; HUGE sales today (which we have no intention of seeing).

We rode the Victoria line to Tower Hill, where we took some more pictures of the Tower of London, and shopped for pens and postcards, and were tempted by, (but did not buy) the paper model (working, mind you) of the executioner with victim.

Then we rode to Monument and walked underground (for quite a way) to Bank. The Bank of England museum was surprisingly nice, actually. I would have liked to take more pictures, but I noticed the no pictures sign half-way through. We got to stick our hands in a sealed plexiglass container and wrap our hands around a genuine gold bar. It was really cool. At the gift shop we bought a post card (for us) and a couple of 2006 proof sets (and there learned that the Bank of England only prints the money, not mints the coins).

Next we rode to Leicester Square via the Northern Line, found no tickets we were interested in, and walked over to the Orc's Nest (a game store, obviously). A short (and pleasant) walk later, and we were at the British Museum. (Across the street and west there is an antique bookstore. In the window was a copy of The Imperial Shakespeare for the low price of £650.)

Inside the grand, enormous, sweeping hall we bought a visitor's guide (£5 I think), and Karen told me she thinks she was smiling in someone else's picture out front. Room 1 was a replica of the arrangement of the museum in the time of George III (complete with fake (touchable) Rosetta Stone). We then walked across the Great Court (their description, not mine) to the REAL Rosetta Stone, a bunch of Assyrian stone murals and statues (and the dreaded Cat with Five Legs (dun dun dun)), some nice Egyptian busts (and even a little Egyptian porn).





An older lady also commented on my camera, as I was able to take some pictures (and know before hand if they were coming out) while she only had an older (non digital) camera.
(This is especially funny now, as it turns out that pictures that look fine (or mostly fine) small, look bad large. And Next time I will consider (strongly) a small tripod, as my hands start shaking fiercely.)

A remarkably reasonably priced (for a museum) cafe provided 1/2 and 1/2 roast chicken + avocado and cucumber cream cheese mint and 1/2 and 1/2 grilled veggies + goat cheese and egg salad + mayo + water cress, a decent-sized piece of apple strussel, and a bottle of Evian all for £10.50.

Almost immediately after our meal (which we took not because of hunger, but pain) our feet were on fire with pain. We looked around the Greeks (I really think I would have been a sculptor had I lived back then), then up the most painful (infinite) staircase EVER to see the mummies. It would have been really great if every step I took wasn't unmitigated agony.



We rode the lift down from 6 to 2 (the floor we entered on), sat for a little while, then walked through the gift shop. This part would have been great...if we were rich, but it did give Karen a chance to find the Vikings (their loot and weapons, anyway). Behold a pile of viking loot:



We rested (again) amidst some very shiny jewelry (circa the 1900's), then back to Leicester Square. Karen spotted Mary Poppins (tucked back behind Spamalot, off Charing Cross Road) so we walked over. The woman behind the counter had three seating options (£25, £15, £15) all for obstructed views. The last one, however, was only obstructed if you didn't mind leaning out over the rail a little and craning your neck a bit. We chose these. They ended up being high up on the third level, stage right, and with just a little leaning and craning, we could see everything.

After buying the tickets we rode back to Victoria and did a little shopping in the adjoining mall/shopping center. We bought a shirt for me and one for Monica (Karen's sister) and some generic post cards in case we felt obligated to send them to grandparents. Then we found an electronics store (a feat which required a great spot check from Karen that I missed) where I bought a 2 GB memory card (as the 1 GB card I had was filling up). I'll cut to the chase and tell you that we discovered (in Bath) that our camera couldn't read the 2 GB (£39) card. heh heh meh. We also stopped by Wittards of Chelsea to buy my mom a tea sampler.

Back to the "hotel" for a bit of rest and an opportunity to call Stratford-upon-Avon to get things cleared up. I had trouble with the phone, only to discover (to my great and abounding irritation) that it was a pay phone, so I was using the incorrect code on the calling card. At least the call let me get it out of my system, and move on. Plus, this way we get to see the Portobello Road Market on Saturday.

We left at 5ish (after writing a few postcards) and headed back to Leicester Square. On exiting we headed the wrong direction (swept up with the throng), but figured it out and reversed course. We tried to eat at Wagamama (a renowned Asian restaurant), but the line was out the (inner, subterranean) door. So instead we ate across the street at Chopstix. A medium meal with rice or noodles was only £4.50, and the large was £5. We got the large sweet and spicy with noodles and two (yes two) bottles of water for £1 each. Good Food. Then a little impulsive and decadent Hagen Das (1 Belgian chocolate, 1 Bailey's, and 1 Tiramisu scoop), then to the theater (program and souvenir book £10.50) to wait.

The house wasn't open at first, so we went upstairs and waited in the bar. After about five minutes they announced we could go in, so we did. The seats weren't bad at all. We had to lean and rest our arms, and I had no leg room, but they were ok.

The show was GREAT! Some staple magic tricks to amaze the younger fans, and some pretty nice wire stunts. I remember the books from when I was a kid, and they used a lot of the elements from the books that were left out of the movie. The story was also a lot better than the movie's plot, which was pretty cool.

Tomorrow (as in the 28th of December...): Bath

London - Day 4 - "Checkmate"

26 December 2006

Boxing Day

After my too hot shower I sat on the bed waiting for Karen to get back and watching BBC news (on BBC 1). One of the news bites they were playing was about the law that had recently been passed (I assume) against the use of hounds while fox hunting. It was a bit surreal for me when I realized that that was a Boxing Day tradition, but I got a big kick out of it.

We assumed there were going to be lots of sales on Boxing Day, but it turns out that there weren't. This we didn't learn until we had ridden the tube over to Kightsbridge (checkmate, get it?) and discovered that both Harrods and Harvey Nicks were closed.

On our way to Victoria Station (backing up the story, a little) we saw a Military Police car. The officer was wearing a red beret and his uniform was only slightly more reminiscent of their military, but other than that he (and his car) looked the same.

We took the Victoria Line north to Green Park, then the Piccadilly Line southwest to Knightsbridge. Harrods wasn't opening again until the 28th and Harvey Nicks the 27th. From there we walked back towards Wellington Arch (avoiding the hard-sell over-priced bus tour). I changed the camera batteries at Wellington shortly after watching some people pass by in a horse-drawn carriage. At first I thought it was going to be the kind of thing you can catch a ride in, but as it passed it occurred to me that these were people out enjoying the day.

We walked through Hyde Park, to the East of the Serpentine, then north and east to Speaker's Corner. There is a nice little food stand (the kind you see on the National Mall in DC, but with better (and more reasonably priced) food) that we stopped by to take care of lunch on the cheap. We bought a bacon roll (WOW!!!!!!!), a ham/tomato/weird oozy cheese (toasted) sandwich, and a slice of pre-packaged (with tiny spork)orange carrot cake (best I've ever had).

When we were mostly through with our meal the pigeons started gathering and circling us like a pack of hyenas. Karen said like sharks, but she was wrong--"NO SHE'S NOT".

We rode the number 23 bus east to the Courts of Justice (across the street from St. Clarendon Dale, a pleasant little church through which we wandered for 15-20 minutes). Then on to FLEET STREET!!!!! Karen noticed the sign, and given our love of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, it was a lot of fun to walk along it. I was surprised by how short it was, but it was still cool. By far the best part of it, though, was the barber shop at the end of the street and the eatery with heavily suggestive (of cannibalism, if you're looking for it) advertisements.

I was taking a picture of a nice looking statue out front of St. Paul's (one of the few statues that does NOT depict Queen Victoria), I suffered a fair bit of pigeon interference. Specifically, ONE pigeon (determinedly) interfered with a picture, and even the threat of throwing nearby children at it failed to entice it to leave.



It was then that Karen observed:

Karen: "St. Paul's has revolving doors!"
Michael: "Well it is a church..."

We weren't Catholic enough to want to pay the admission price to the Cathedral, so we walked on toward the Tower of London. Our feet started killing us again, so we caught the number 15 bus to just shy of the Tower. it was cool. We vowed to return to the gift shop (when it was open) though we decided not to pay for the tour (though we are DEFINITELY going to next time).

Tower Bridge was awesome, but our feet *really* started hurting, so we pushed on (also declining to pay the £17 a person admission price for the London Dungeon. We went to London Bridge Station (to get back to Victoria a little faster) but accidentally went up to the rail platform . There we found signs directing us down (down, down) to the tube station. A woman with a Slavic accent approached us and asked for help getting to Victoria, so we had her follow us. Apparently Jubilee Line is the one with the jumper shields (as seen previously on MI-5 from netflix).

Back across the street from Victoria Station, we tried to get Billy Elliot tickets, but they were sold out (we could have queued, but there was no way in HELL we were going to stand for only a chance of getting tickets. We stopped in the station for a bottle of Nivea (for foot rubs) and a chicken/bacon/cucumber/tomato baguette, then started back to the "hotel".

We intended to hit the Sainsbury's on our way back, but it was closed. So, still in pain, we hiked back to the Sainsbury's Local where we picked up a rather tasteless fruit and nut assortment, some dates (meh), a couple of large (2 liter) waters, and orange-pineapple juice, a blackcurrant juice, and CANDY (the vanilla-chocolate bar, the dark/orange chocolate bar, white maltzers and some "biscuits" (the British word for cookies)).

We exchanged foot rubs while watching British Deal or No Deal, the Simpsons, the end of Bedknobs and Broomsticks (YAY!), and the news. I zonked out, and woke up at the end of Freaky Friday. We played three games of Cribbage (Karen 2, Michael 1), ate a Rowntrees candy and some chocolate. As for the juice: we were drinking the blackcurrant juice when we discovered it was concentrate. We were wondering why it was so strong, and as it turns out, we should have added 5 parts water for every 1 part juice. Heh. The orange-pineapple was 1-4 juice to water. It explained SOOOOO much.

We went to bed at around 10:30 and slept (happily).

London - Day 3 - "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"

25 December 2006

Christmas

If you haven't figured it out yet, the subtitles so far are episodes of the Prisoner, my favorite British television show.

I learned, while Karen was showering in the TOO HOT shower next to our room, that the tickets I had prearranged through Ticketmaster for Merry Wives: The Musical were for December 23rd. Yes, that's right: The day we arrived in London. I have no idea how it slipped by me. I don't know if it was my mistake or their mistake, but suffice it to say that I felt REALLY awful, sitting on the bed in our disappointing "hotel" room, staring at the wreckage of a perfectly good (and well-looked-forward-to part of the trip) and generally beating myself up about it. I resolved to stay calm until I could procur a phone card and call Stratford-Upon-Avon and confirm (I'll tell you now that we did not end up going to Stratfor-Upon-Avon at all, but *did* get to see the Portobello Road Market instead).

We watched a weird special recap episode from a comedy show (similar to US late night comedy talk shows, but with sketch comedy) the night before that left a rather interesting impression. The show is called The Friday Night Project, and is pretty funny.

While at Sainsbury's the night before we picked up some candy (as well as the pain relief items), including: Aero (a milk chocolate from Nestle with minty "bubbles"), and two kinds of organic chocolate bars from Green & Black (which we learned later we CAN get here in the States).

(These last two paraphrased entries were made in an attempt to stabalize my mood and to capture memories for posterity)

We left the hotel room a little after 11 am. We took our normal route back towards Victoria Station, along which we observed what we assume was a junkie breaking glass of some sort. We walked by on the other side of the road, but he didn't seem to take much interest in us (something I am quite pleased by). I wanted to take his picture (for the police), but we thought it best just to move on somewhat quickly.

From Victoria we headed down Victoria Street to Westminster Abbey (where we took some pictures and listened to the Christmas bells), then on past Downing street (where there were six or so guards with automatic machine guns in and out of the black, box-like, metal gate), through Horseguards, up the portion of the Mall by the column under the Duke of York, and on to Picadilly Circus. We expected to catch tube, but it was shut for the day, so we started the search for food instead.

Next door to the Burger King (I opted not to get a picture of this menu, but it was similar to the situation with the McD's from the day before) was a little donut shop (titled, appropriately, "Donuts and Baguettes") where we bought a Mozarella and Salami baguette and a coke for £7.94 (it was FAR too busy to even try to get a seat), then down the street (west) to another little place called "Piazza Espresso Bar Italiano" where we picked up a Mordatela, Avacado, and Bacon for £3.95 (the better taste, the better deal, and not at all busy). After eating we went into a tacky tourist shop, then decided that we still hurt enough that we might as well just head back.

Back at our hotel we discovered the simple joy of the British version of Deal or No Deal. It is completely different in the Mother Country, and quite a riot to watch, because the contestants all get a box and stand around in a circle, and seem to be *genuinely* upset when the open a bad dollar amount for the playing party. Plus, the monetary offers that are made in no way reflect the expected value of the case at the time. In general, funny, but we wouldn't have watched it if there was something better on one of the other three stations. :)

We exchanged foot massages and while watching Remains of the Day tried not to fall asleep FAR too early...

...Except we did. We fell asleep at 6 pm, and I was awake again by about 11:30.
By 12:30 we were both awake and we watched the end of a strange movie with Robert Downing Jr and Heather Graham. After that we watched Laws of Attraction (Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore as divorce lawyers) while I tried to figure out our shopping excursion for Boxing Day.

We watched Boys on the Side (did I mention the Britiish don't censor movies?) while we planned everything we could, napped from around 4~4:30 am to 6 am at which point I tried to shower upstairs (but from that point on I didn't even try to make the attempt, and walked down three flights every morning).

London - Day 2 - "The Chimes of Big Ben"

24 December 2006

"Water Closet" is right! We did not spring for "en suite" rooms, so we had to share toilets and showers with the building. The showers at the Caswell Hotel are tiny affairs: enough room to stand, with two flaps that close to separate the outer door from the water, thus guarding your towel/robe from the water (there was a hook on either side). The floor we were on for the first night sported a shower, with a toilet "one" floor above (except that it is up two flights: north-->south and south-->north, with a set of rooms in between). The toilets were the old style-ones with the tank above, and that first toilet didn't flush at all unless you pulled *really* hard.

After showering and getting ready, we took our bags to the front desk and I *confirmed* that they would be taken up to our new room before we returned. We then went downstairs to the basement for the continental breakfast. We had our choice of toast or croissants and tea or coffee. Milk was brought to the table in a metal tureen/bowl/pouring thingie (enough for cereal as well as our drinks). There were jams on the table (several flavors that I mostly avoided, until the last few days and I discovered they had Black Currant jam). Orange juice, apples, and cereal were self-service on a sideboard, so I had quite a bit of oj every day.

We left the hotel and headed back up to Victoria station to grab a bus map (for future reference), then walked up Buckingham Palace Road past the Roayal Mews to the Palace. We took a bunch of pictures, walked over to Green Park, looked around a little (there is a Canada Gate and Fountain over there), then we walked back across the mall to St. James Park (getting more shots of Queen Victoria's statue).
We stopped by a permanent food stand where Karen got a tea and I got a hot chocolate (£2.80) and we got to see a feeding frenzy of cooing, screeching pigeons. I never knew pigeons screeched/screamed before. It was pretty reminescent of The Birds (a movie I must now see). We walked through St. James Park, saw a guy feeding nuts to squirrels (they even got up on his hand) and then on to see PELICANS!!!!! over by the Cabinet War Rooms. There was even a sign saying not to feed the pelicans. Karen found a cute little cottage on the lake/pond in St. James Park which she really liked.

After that, we crossed the street to the Cabinet War Rooms, walked between them and turned right to get to Parliament Square. This was really cool. Especially when Big Ben chimed. We took some exterior pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, as well as all the statues in the square (there is even one of Lincoln, which surprised us both), including Cromwell's statue (surrounded by construction).

St. Margaret's, right next to Westminster Abbey, had sundials instead of clock faces on its tower. It was too cloudy to get a reading, but it was really neat.



We strolled over to Westminster Bridge (taking a picture of a small patch of blue sky) and bought a sausage to split (£2.50). We then walked East along the Victoria Embankment to the Hungerford Footbridge. We crossed and walked back towards Westminster Bridge on the south bank, stopping for a bit to enjoy the living statues (there were 4) and the guy playing glasses of water. I donated 50p to each of the first two statues and 25p to the glass-player. After that, we queued up and bought tickets to the London Eye. As expensive as they were (£14.50 each), it was pretty damned cool.



While up there we met a man and his family who had moved to France a few years before to avoid Blair, and was visiting London on holiday. He pointed out the top of MI-5, over by Nelson's Column, and told me the ubiquitous dome (signature image of the Thames production company) was the old post office building.

After the amazing views from the Eye, we took a walk around the block by way of the exterior of the Dali museum (which we considered returning to on a later day), the south end of Westminster Bridge, then over by the hospital and back up to the Hungerford Footbridge. We crossed back to the north bank of the Thames, walked East past Cleopatra's Kiosk and along the Embankment to Cleopatra's Needle.



After that we walked by the park just south of Charing Cross Station (I think it is Temple Park, but I could easily be wrong), saw a bunch of statues and nifty trees (Karen had me crane the camera up to try to take a picture of a statue inside a protective crate in the middle of the park, but it didn't really work...), and eventually left via a north exit. This park was interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that of the ten or more entrances, most were closed. And they had up one of those great signs warning of thieves at work in the area. I took a picture, of course. Trying to get back to where we entered proved impossible from the north (for the simple reason that the gate we needed to use was locked), and given how much we hurt, and the sketchy nature of the area, we ascended the STAIRS OF SISYPHUS-IAN PROPORTION (dun dun dun). They were steep, and they hurt, and we were already in agony as it was, but we made it up (with much complaining from us both).




We came out on one of the tributary streets to the Southeast of Trafalgar Sq. (stopping briefly to take pictures of the Mc Donald's menu: the prices were the same or higher, only in £, instead of $). We took some pictures of Nelson's Column, a lion, and sat for a few minutes in front of the National Gallery. After that we wandered over to Leitcester (pronounced "Lester") Sq. where we saw Pan's Labyrinth at the Odeon (£19.50 for two).

We decided to partake of some English candy, as that is what one does when travelling abroad for the first time, and we decided on a bag of Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles and a bottle of still spring water (£4.35 total). The movie was good, and it was neat to see british movie PSA's and their rating system and all that.

We went looking for food in the direction of our hotel, but at Picadilly Circus we took Regent St in the wrong direction. We reversed course at Maddox (just short of Oxford Circus) after consulting the A to Zed. We were going to try the Angus steak house just off Picadilly Circus, but Karen balked at the price, forgetting that I wanted something nicer, and she had said we would pick the next thing we saw.

I cannot at this point stress to you HOW MUCH PAIN WE WERE IN! It was unbelievable. I have never hurt so much in my life. At this point we had already walked somewhere close to twenty miles, and we still had to get back to Victoria Station before rest was in sight.

So, as much as I hurt, I was a little stubborn, and when she said yes to the steak house, I really didn't want to take anymore steps in the wrong direction, and we pressed forward. Frequently I was forced to stop walking, trying vainly and feebly to relieve the horrible burning, needle-like pains in my feet. But not just my feet! No, my GLUT'S hurt! How is that possible?!?!?! And my back.

So anyway, walk we did, and eventually, after more than an hour of slow staggering we came at last to Victoria Station. This is well after we resolved to stop at the first sit-down restaraunt we saw. We tried the pub next door to Billy Ellito, but they weren't taking new patrons. So on we went to the Genevieve. Between the Scotch Steak House and the American Steak House (a place we fastidiously refused to go), we were just happy to sit down. The waiter wanted to seat us by the window, but opted for a little inward in the narrow dining room. We ordered the £10.50 filet mignon special and £2.80 garlic bread. Karen took tea and I had a couple of cokes. I think I tipped too much, too, not having realized at this time that the customary gratuity is only 10% or so. It was one of the most expensive meals I have ever had, and sadly not one of the best. Still, food and rest were most welcome. We learned after looking at the receipt that the Genevieve was a subset of the American Steak House, which would have been funny if we weren't in so much pain.

We started back, stopping by the Sainsbury's Local for pain relief items, and headed back to the hotel.

Let me say this calmly:

They did not take our bags to our room.
They did not take our bags to our room.
THEY DID NOT TAKE OUR BAGS TO OUR ROOM!!!!!!!

Furious doesn't even begin to cover how I felt. Did I mention how much I hurt? There was lots of pain, let me remind you. And our bags are heavy.

We doctored our aching bodies, and went to sleep. The day was great except for that bit at the end.

Tomorrow: Christmas!