Hello all! I never quite know how to start these things, so I'll just jump right in.

Wednesday, September 12th

Today was a museum day, that is for sure. I woke up early and went to the V&A to meet my Museums and Galleries class. It was much more interesting the second time around, it is wonderful having a professor for a tour guide. It was odd, because the first time I walked through the plaster cast galleries it was a bit of a joke to me, but this time it was more awe-inspiring than anything. And hearing the stories behind a lot of the artifacts I'd seen before was very interesting.

I had to leave early in order to meet my History of London class at St. Paul's cathedral. We walked through the area northeast of the cathedral, where all of the buildings (save a for a few churches) are less than fifty years old because that entire neighborhood was destroyed during the Blitz. The destruction gave city planners a blank canvas, they installed a highway and an enormous complex called Barbican. I suppose it was supposed to be an architectural and residential experiment, but when all you can see is steel and cold cement, it feels a bit like a dystopia from science fiction.

Within the area of Barbican was the London Museum. Which, while it lacked artifacts, was very informative and worth the free admission. It only had a few small exhibits, so I only spent an hour there and then hiked three miles to the nearest Tube station that wasn't closed. Went to the Imperial with Tim and talked to the employees for about three hours about annoying Americans, and then turned in for the night.

Thursday, September 13th

Woke up early and hopped on the Tube at Kensington High Street for Paddington train station. Caught the 10 o'clock train to Bath after waiting for about an hour because it was delayed. The train ride was surprisingly comfortable and enjoyable, I had a table and four seats to myself, and the rolling English countryside provided the entertainment. I arrived in Bath at about noon. Walked to my hostel and found out that check-in started at 2, so I explored Bath for the next two hours. And that was when I realized that there was going to be a problem. In that short amount of time I had traversed the city south to north, east to west, saw all of the free sights, and managed to take a short nap in the Circus. Doing all of that in such a short amount of time would have been fantastic if I had a train ticket for London that night. The problem was the fact that I had booked three nights in the hostel and my train ticket wasn't good until Sunday. So after I finally checked in, I claimed my bed, made a four-day friend, and took a nap until sundown. After my nap I decided I should do some more exploring, maybe there was some hidden nook or cranny that would justify four days in a tourist town. You have to realize that only hours earlier the streets were packed with old people, and I mean proper old people - canes, wheelchairs, white hair, and fantastic cataract sunglasses - all from Arizona mind you. But it was 7:00 and the streets and walkways were empty, every store was closed, and I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I tried to find a pub or restaurant that wasn't closed.

After about an hour I finally found some "cheap" fish and chips (5 pounds/$10). I returned to my hostel dorm room with a half-full stomach and Making History by Stephen Fry from Waterstones. I talked to Natalie (my four-day friend I met at the hostel) for a few hours, and then around 10, all hell broke loose. Our room was right above the pub, which happened to be a very popular pub, for loud, drunk, and obnoxious English students. Let's just say, that if I was the mayor of Bath, it would be a felony to have Karaoke past midnight.

Friday, September 14th

Woke up early and went on the free Bath walking tour. Which was long (three hours) and worth the free admission, the modern history of Bath is built on gossip and speculation - not really my thing. I ate lunch at a beautiful (and cheap) Indian restaurant that was housed in a Georgian ballroom, which was enjoyable, well, as enjoyable as eating by yourself at a sit-down restaurant can be. Then I went to the Roman Baths, which at 10 pounds/$20 was a bargain for how amazing they were. I spent four hours just wandering with my audioguide, which was wonderful because it was Bill Bryson (a fantastic American travel journalist). The enormity, beauty and antiquity of the entire complex was surreal and awesome (in the proper sense of the word). It was by far the highlight of my time in Bath.

I then booked a day tour for Saturday, then took off for a beautiful park on the outskirts of town to read my recently purchased book. Later that night in the hostel, while lying in bed, I overheard a conversation taking place across the room...
Female: "So where are you from?"
Male: "Seattle."
Female: "No way! I'm from Tacoma!"
Me: "Me too!"
You have to admit, that's pretty crazy. We actually ended up chatting for five or six hours after we found a quiet pub away from our ridiculous hostel. They were wonderful and interesting people, Phil was getting his doctorate in Atmospheric Chemistry and Jackie was traversing Europe for the next four months. It really is a shame that I'll never see them again, they took off the next morning.

Saturday, September 15th

Day tour (8:00-18:00): Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock, Castle Combe, and the Cotswolds.

The best money I've spent over here. An absolute blast, even though it was just eight old couples and me, playing the role of fill-in grandson. Stonehenge was better than I expected. Avebury was surreal. Lacock was a weird little tourist village where I wasted two hours and ten pounds on a sandwich. Castle Combe was...quaint. And the Cotswolds countryside was to die for. Sorry for the summarizing, but if you've read this far, you're probably glad I did so. Upon return to Bath went out to dinner with Natalie, and then went to bed.

Sunday, September 16th

Woke up early, checked out, and then sat in various parks for five hours waiting for my train to come. Took the 14:00 train back to London Paddington. And that's about it.

So what's the verdict on Bath? It was enjoyable, I really liked meeting Natalie, Phil and Jackie. But I definitely did not need to spend four days in the city, there's only one-day's worth of activities. To give you an idea of how much I had to do, I finished all six-hundred pages of Making History before I got back to London.

Let's see what I'm doing next. This weekend, Tim and I are going to try to hit Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) in two day trips. And then in two weeks the two of us will be heading to Ireland for a few days. Good stuff.