Vacation: London, England Day 1

We arrived by train at Paddington Station. I did not see Paddington Bear, but I forgot to look for him. We grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel, the Millennium Bailey's.

The room was quite spacious, which was a nice surprise because we thought the room would be tiny. And the hotel was right across the street from a tube station! Really an excellent location and a nice hotel.

Once we dumped our luggage in our room, we hit the tube station to figure out how that was going to work. We put money on an oyster card and climbed on the train to Westminster station.

After arriving at Westminster and walking out of the station, we found ourselves across the street from the Houses of Parliament

and Big Ben.

We also found ourselves in a teeming mass of humanity. I have never heard so many languages spoken in one place in my life, and that includes the United Nations! So many people were there, and it wasn't even the high tourist season yet. I cannot imagine London in July.

We walked across the bridge to the London Eye.

Prepared to wait in a long line, we were amazed that we managed to miss the line. We climbed on and were rewarded with stunning views of London, especially St. Paul's

and Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

After our flight in the Eye, we walked past some protesters in front of Parliament. They wanted to the government to do something about the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

We walked down the street past No. 10 Downing Street

toward Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelson's Column.

After that we went to the hotel and ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't understand why KFC doesn't have mashed potatoes outside the United States. I learned this on a vacation in Canada a few years ago. It just doesn't make any sense. I'd understand it in Asia where the potato is not a staple food, but Canada? England? Ridiculous! So, I ate the French fries.

Vacation: Cardiff & Caerphilly, Wales

We took the train from Bath to Wales. Our hotel, the Sleeperz, was right next to the train station. It was a nice place, especially because of its location, but it was very modern. The room was tiny – I think even smaller than the cruise ship's stateroom – but comfortable. The beds, which were bunk beds, were quite soft, and the pillows were decent. Not super thin like most hotels. Most interesting thing about this hotel? You had to put your key card into a slot for the lights to work!

Once we got settled into our hotel room, we walked to Cardiff Castle. The castle was built over an old Roman fort in the eleventh century.

While Mom waited, I climbed the stairs up and inside the keep where I was rewarded with a lovely view.

On the way to the top of the keep, I saw a medieval toilet.

Then we went to the National Museum of Wales to see their exhibition about Charles Darwin. This year is his 200th birthday.

For supper we went to Cardiff Bay and found an "American diner." Then we walked by the "Hub." Actually, it was the Wales Millennium Centre, but it's often seen in the BBC series Torchwood.

The next day we traveled to Caerphilly and went to see Caerphilly Castle. Although the sun was shining, the wind was blowing about forty or fifty miles an hour, so Mom and I were freezing! Nevertheless we braved the extreme wind to see the second largest castle in Great Britain.

The ruins of Caerphilly Castle include the famous leaning tower.

Outside of the castle we found a gaggle of geese and some goslings.

We returned to Cardiff, went to a small shop (where I managed to find Dr. Pepper!) and caught the train to London.

Vacation: Bath, England

When we arrived in Bath, we promptly got lost. We found ourselves in the wrong lane or heading in the wrong direction. Finally we found a place to pull over (not easy to do on such narrow roads) and called the bed & breakfast.

Wolfgang, one of the owners of Athole Guest House, came and found us. We followed him to the house, and he even parked our car in a snug little parking spot for us. He was wonderful. Very hospitable. He drove us into town and showed us some places to eat and even drove us to the rental car place when we dropped off the car.

Breakfast at Athole was fabulous. After the sketchy eggs in Salisbury, I was a little nervous about food. But the pancakes were heavenly. He also made fresh bread every morning, and it was divine, too.

And the resident cat, Moth, was just a sweetheart. He climbed in my lap and let me pet him. It made me miss my cat even though Moth was much friendlier.

Our first stop in Bath was the Roman Baths. Mom loves Ancient Rome, so this was wonderful for her.

They had a costumed interpreter beside the Great Bath. At one point, he began a prayer to the gods. The manner in which he recited this prayer reminded Mom and me of a Southern Baptist preacher. We decided he was from "south Rome."

We also went inside Bath Abbey.

This abbey (or, more accurately, this site's previous abbey building) was where the first King of England was crowned in 973.

The ceiling inside Bath Abbey was breathtaking.

Even an American Senator is buried there.

We stopped at Sally Lunn's to eat one of her famous buns. Sally Lunn's is a teashop that is located in the oldest house in Bath. She came to England from France more than 300 years ago. The house was 200 years old when Sally moved into it.

The bun was scrumptious! It looks like a hamburger bun, but it's softer and sweeter and bigger. Mom got half a toasted bun with chocolate sauce on top and hot chocolate. I got half a toasted bun with butter and strawberry jam and tea. The tea was excellent, as well. We bought a box in the gift shop.

There is a gift shop and museum downstairs. The museum shows off the original foundations of the house and the faggot oven used by Sally Lunn.

The food was so good we tried returning for supper, but they were full.

After our refreshing lunch, we hit the Assembly Rooms. Part of the Assembly Rooms are now a fashion museum, which we toured. I even got to try on a crinoline! The corset, sadly, would not fit.

It was easy to imagine genteel ladies and gentlemen dancing in the Assembly Rooms.

We also walked over to see the Circus. I would love to have been able to look inside one of these homes, but we weren't able.

Finally, we went to the current Bath spa. It's expensive, but you get to spend two hours inside. We went to the roof and enjoyed the view from that pool. Then we hit the saunas. The perfumed air inside the different rooms was overpowering. The perfume made it harder to breathe than the heat did. Our last stop was the indoor pool. The water temperature was about that of a warm bath. I enjoyed it (except for the price), but Mom wasn't that impressed.

Nevertheless, we can now say we've enjoyed the waters at Bath. And Mom's legs didn't hurt the next day, so I guess there's some truth to the water's restorative powers!

When we left, Wolfgang drove us to the train station where we caught our train to Cardiff.

Vacation: Lacock, Cherhill & Avebury

After leaving Salisbury, we traveled to Bath. Once in Bath, we had the rental for one more day before returning it. So, we drove through the surrounding countryside.

Our first stop was Lacock Village. This is a little town that does not allow cars in it except for the people who live there. We parked in a lot that was a short walk from the village center.

The town is used in lots of films – from Jane Austen adaptations to Harry Potter.

They have an old abbey in the town. The abbey itself was closed that day, but the cloister was open.

We returned to the village to have a cup of tea (me) and hot chocolate (Mom) at The George Inn, the oldest pub in Lacock. It was established in 1361.

From Lacock we drove through the town of Cherhill. The whole economy of the town seems to based on the fact that a giant horse was carved into the hillside in 1780.

Avebury is where another stone circle was built in ancient times. This circle, unlike Stonehenge, is right in the middle of the town. We parked and walked around some of the stones. 

We not only saw white sheep, but there were also black sheep wandering among the giant rocks with the tourists.