Just back from a weekend in Bath, a 90 minute train ride west of London. Bath is meant to be one of the nicest places in England and the entire town is considered a World Heritage site. Our B&B owners told us it is a year round tourist destination, second only to Venice for having more tourists than residents. We especially enjoyed a canal walk from Bath through the countryside to the nearby town of Bathampton, where we were told “in less than an hour” we would come upon a great pub. From minutes 30 to 80 of our walk, Brent must have said, “Where the hell is this great pub?” 30 times. Bollocks. It was a nice pub and eventually, we had a well earned pint.  Note to reader: we did call a taxi for a ride back into town, and upon pickup the driver said “Heading back into town? Let me guess you just did the canal walk.”

The town itself was well yes, full of tourists and the new part has a lot of modern shopping stores, but it also feels very historical and European. We really enjoyed our visit through the Roman medieval baths and the adjoining museum. They’ve done a great job of using modern technology to tell the history of the baths and its not so hard to imagine how the Romans used the spa site. After our amble through the ruins, we stopped into the dainty Pump Room upstairs to sample the famous spa water. They say the water is 10,000 years old and that should give you some idea of how it tasted.