Tuesday 8/29 The Granthams and a Bath

This morning started out with a good breakfast. If you haven't traveled in Europe, upon you first trip, you will quickly learn that ice is a guarded secret. The DoubleTree had one ice maker behind the bar and it was empty. I was up early so I drove across the motorway to a BP. The expression on the attended face when I asked if the sold bagged ice was that of confusion annoyance. She had never heard of ice sold in bags and certainly didn't sell it at this location. I backed away and left the store. 

Sherri and I had a good English breakfast at the hotel (free) and headed out for Downton Abbey to visit our good friends the Granthams. Most of you will get the reference. 

Being early, we decided to drive some of the back roads. We found ourselves on a single track road with the occasional lay-by. If you met another vehicle you reversed to the closest lay-by. Fortunately there were cars in front of us. This meant the lorry had to reverse a few hundred feet. 

 

We walked the grounds of Highclere Castle on Monday. The line to enter the castle was very long and we were tired. Returning and touring the castle first thing Tuesday morning sounded like a better plan. We were first in line this morning. Had a nice visit with a couple while waiting for the doors to open. He was from Canada and she was English. The doors opened and to our disappointment Carson was on break. The tour was worth the return trip. The house is layed out very close to how the TV series portrays. I recognized many of the furnishings used in different scenes. Sorry, no pictures of the interior are allowed. 

The tour included and Egyptian artifact exhibition. The 5th Earl of Highclere accompanied Howard Carter when he found King Tutankhamen's tomb. 

Leaving Highclere, we headed west to Bath. On the way we stopped at a Services area (rest stop). Unbelievably, we ate at KFC. Must have been jet lag impairing our judgement. In our defense, the Burger King didn't have a whopper. 

Turning south off the M4, we traveled down A46. The further south we traveled, the road became tighter and curvier. Imagine the narrowest, crookedest road you have traveled. Now add bumper to bumper traffic traveling 55 to 60 mph. We coped. At this point I have to direct the next comment to Rick Rickman. You said driving downtown Bath and parking just wasn't practical. We did it. I am not saying it was smart, but we did it. 

Entering Bath for the first time can be very distracting when driving. The building architecture and narrow streets where unexpected. I finally asked Sherri to snap pictures with my phone so I could look later. Dodging cars and pedestrians took all my concentration. 

Sherri and I walked through a popular section of Bath heading to the Roman baths. The history is amazing. They have dated the baths back to 49 AD. The following pictures are of the reconstruction done in the 1800s when the baths were open to the public. The exhibition is full of original pillars, statues and the original baths themselves. 

The next group of pictures are what archeologist uncovered and not reconstructed. Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I should have of the main baths. Our KFC fueled energy was starting to fade. 

The following are few pictures of Bath England.

We left Bath to head for next destination of Cardiff Wales. We will spend 2 nights in Cardiff. The downtown Hilton is nice. I haven't checked on the ice situation yet but I will let you know. 

Tonight's dinner was at a pub down the street. The food was good and inexpensive. We walked around a bit and ran into this fashionable fellow. 

Tomorrow we are leaving the car parked and exploring Cardiff by walk, cab or train.

Good night.