Hiking through Bath, etc.

Hello, there. The vagabonding through England continues. There's no great overarching theme to today's entry (Besides, it's 9:30 p.m., it's been an exhausting day and, in the words of Paul Simon, “It's a wonder I can think at all”).

No pictures right now. Sorry. It's not that we haven't been taking them; it's just that all of the stills are on Judy's camera, and she just realized that she didn't bring the connector for my computer. It's an older model, from back in the bad old days when you needed something more than a USB cable. I'll take stills with my trusty Sony which is larger, but simpler in so many ways (like transferring the photos!)

• Deja Vu all over again, Part 2: In keeping with the theme that this year's visit to London is sort of an extension of last year's visit to London: Today, we took an all-day tour of Bath. We booked the tour with “London Walks,” a great outfit that conducts walking tours all over London and many other parts of England. We had a great time in Greenwich with them last year, courtesy of our tour guide Chris Green. This year, our tour of Bath was conducted by... Chris Green. Once again, it was like we'd barely been away.
  
  
• When and if you get over here, visit Bath, about 90 minutes west of London by train. Bath is the site of ancient Roman health baths, fueled by natural hot springs, dating back to about 75 AD and later revived during 18^th century by the Brits. I won't try to capture it all here, but the tour of the city – sort of a holiday resort where the upper crust Brits could take advantage of the healing waters to soothe their ills, real and otherwise – and the museum, where you can see the hot water springs and walk among the Roman ruins, is well worth the time and money.
  
  
• Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Sometimes it's just ignorance. And sometimes, you just get lucky. We arrived back at Paddington Station (home of the bear!) at about 6 pm and, not knowing a damn thing about the neighborhood, we just lit out to check it out, visit a pub, see the sights, etc. For all we knew, we could have been wandering through a less-than-savory neighborhood, but as I say, when on holiday, you don't spend a lot of time thinking about such things. As it turns out, we were in an extremely affluent and classy part of town. After a drink (or two) and a bite to eat, we strolled through Kensington Gardens, caught a glimpse of Kensington Palace and wound up at Royal Albert Hall (and no, I don't know how many holes it takes to fill it). Not bad for a serendipitous stroll.
  
  

• We couldn't return to London without a trip to a West End show. Theater in the UK is considerably less expensive than in NY or other major cities, and the theaters are smaller and more intimate. And, tickets for most shows are available at the discount TKTS booth. Perfect. We saw Billy Elliott last night. I'm not a big fan of musicals, but this one is worth the money. Great performances and it actually has a strong book. There's some THERE there. 
  
  
• Tomorrow, we pack up, board another train and head north to York. Details to follow.