Missing Green

For the last couple of months, I’ve had the urge to start running. I was never much of a runner. My lack of endurance only allowed for short sprints. But I think all the walking Farrah and I did in England, France, and New York has made me realize you can get far on your feet. This fact, plus the cost of gas, is making self-powered transportation a good alternative to driving. Maybe I need to invest in a couple of bikes? At the least, I think we’re going to try to hike more, possibly on Sundays.


Tours: Our First Full Day in Bath

After a good night’s sleep, we headed down to breakfast, which started later than usual since it is a Bank Holiday.  Our breakfast table is designated by room number.  We had a choice of five different meals:

  • A full all English Breakfast
  • Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
  • Fried Egg and Bacon
  • Egg and Toast
  • Beans and Toast
  • Vegetarian

Farrah had the scrambled eggs and bacon and I had the egg and bacon.  The bacon is cut much like a thin ham steak - nice and salty.  There were also choices of cereals, fruit, and juices.  Not a bad breakfast for a seemingly small bed and breakfast.

We looked outside while eating breakfast, seeing the wind and rain that were mentioned on the morning television forecast.  We weren’t going to let the rain change our plans of taking the Bath CitySightseeing tour.  After all, this is England and it does rain!

Bath CitySightseeing is broken up into two sections: The City Centre Tour and Skyline Tour.  We took the City Centre Tour which took us through sights within the city.  We sat on the top front covered section of the double-decker tour bus, sheltering us from the rain.  It was difficult to see some of the sites pointed out by our tour guide through the rain-drenched windows.  By the tour’s end, the sun was starting to try and break up the clouds.

We then headed to Roman Baths Museum.  The museum was crowded since it was a holiday.  We managed to take the full tour in about 90 minutes. Afterward, we grabbed lunch at Sally Lunds, the oldest (tea) house in Bath.  Farrah ordered the Bath Cream Tea with half of their famous bun.  The bun, we are told, is created from an ultra-secret recipe, locked in a safe, and only known by three people.  It came with raspberry and clotted cream.  I had a roast beef sandwich which came with apple pie and clotted cream.  Yummy on both counts.

After our fulfilling lunch, we jumped on the Skyline portion of the Bath CitySightseeing tour.  We sat on the uncovered portion of the top of the bus this time since the weather cleared.  We had to dodge tree branches from time to time up there.

For dinner, we decided to try Wagamama which received some good reviews.  Wagamama is a nice clean trendy type of place to eat Japanese food.  Farrah tried the Miso Ramen and I had the Chilli Beef Ramen, both served with very fresh vegetables.  The prices are high, considering the conversion rate, but we’re on vacation!


We're Here!

As I write this right now, it is around 21:18 (9:18 PM)  on Sunday here in Bath, UK.  Farrah and I are sitting in our room at The Parade Park bed and breakfast, watching television and trying to recover from the day’s events.

The flight on Virgin Atlantic from SFO was long but as comfortable as possible.  The seats don’t give you much room.  Luckily you do receive a personal entertainment screen.    You can choose from over 50 movies, television shows, and games to pass the time away.  I managed to watch “Smokin' Aces” and " The Illusionist "  and a few minutes of “Music and Lyrics”.  Farrah watched “Borat”, “Catch and Release”, and “Music and Lyrics”.

The food, dinner, and breakfast, were not bad for airline food.  They even provided free headphones and a free toiletry kit.

Once we landed at Heathrow, we took the long walk to Central Bus Station and waited about 90 minutes for our bus.  At this point Farrah and I were pretty much whipped, having only slept a couple of hours - if that much - on the plane.  We both fell asleep off and on through the two-hour bus ride to Bath.

We easily found the bed and breakfast.  The room is on the third floor - what we would call the fourth floor as the ground floor is not counted.  Our room is small, but it does have its own bathroom.

The sink has separate hot and cold water faucets and flushing the toilet requires you to pull the lever several times in a row - almost as if you are priming the pump.  We can see the Abbey from our room, as you can tell in the photo above.

All in all an adventurous day in the UK.