For my last holiday adventure, Damjan and I visited a town called Bath. I highly recommend a visit here. Even though it was windy and cold, I had a really great time.

The best part of the visit was the free tour. Volunteers from the Bath community run tours of the town two or three times a day. You appreciate a town so much better when you walk around with a bit of knowledge. Bath looks like a beautiful 18th century town but our (extremely droll) guide allowed us to imagine what it was really like in the 18th century: building facades blackened with oil lamp smoke or covered with advertising, smelly streets, women with perfect coiffures infested with bugs and lice because they only washed their hair every few months.

This was the world of Jane Austen. It seemed more romantic in the books. By the way, although there is a Jane Austen Centre in Bath, she hated the place during the five years she lived there.

Something about picturesque towns seems to attract delicious food stores. Damo and I sampled quince jam in a cheese shop, chocolate and walnut fudge in a fudge shop, and a variety of European and Australian(!) olive oils and vinegars in a store called ‘Oil and Vinegar’. We ate Cornish pasties (my fourth for the trip) and bought greengage jam. We drank ‘Real Ale‘.

I found an art store. I loved every painting in that store. There were gingerbread men and cows.

Finally, we visited the Roman Baths that Bath is famous for. We spent two hours there, wandering around with audioguides stuck to our ears.

	We took the train to Bath. We changed trains at a town called Didcot, which is an industrial town about an hour (?) west of London. Apparently, many people who can’t afford to live in London have homes in Didcot and they commute to London for work.
	There were audioguides at Château de Versailles, Musée du Louvre and many other attractions. This was the first time I used an audioguide (it was included in the entry price). I was very impressed. The recordings were clear and informative. I am now more inclined to pay the extra money for these things now.
	The Roman Baths were a major historical find. See the upper terrace in the photo? That’s the current-day street level of Bath. Apparently, Bath used to be six metres lower than it is now. People just kept knocking buildings down and constructing on top of them. In the 18th century, some people living in terraced houses complained that that water kept seeping into their basements. The town’s chief engineer came around, dug around a bit, and lo and behold, found a huge complex of magnificent (and still functional) thermal spas!

Because I went on holiday for three weeks, I am now catching up on a lot of homework for a part time university course I do. Hence my post-holiday blog quietness. I would like to take a break from work and show you a few of my photos. These aren’t chosen for any reason other than I can think of interesting captions to go with them.

There are waterfalls at Singapore Changi Airport.

Look at me, I have a big camera. Actually, on average I believe that Damo took better photos with his little camera than my big one. Which goes to show, it’s not the size that counts, it’s how you use it.

The streets of Cambridge.

There are many canal boats in the Oxford Canal. People live on canals and travel to the various English towns that are connected by these waterways and rivers. Perhaps this is what is considered ‘assisted parallel parking’.

The Basilique du Sacré Coeur at Montmartre, Paris. Our hostel was right in front of it. There were a lot of tourists. I hate tourists — especially those that take photos in places that are signed ‘Do not take photos’.

The Arc de Triomphe should be a place of quiet reflection. I mean, one of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier mounuments is there, right? However, the five lanes of Parisian traffic roaring around it does little to promote an atmosphere of thoughtful contemplation.

The Burghers of Calais are a famous statue composition found at musée Rodin. Burghers, get it?

We ate seven crêpes in one day. Look, I’m eating so fast I’ve blurred out. Yes, Daniel, that’s cider we’re drinking.

The glass pyramid in musée du Louvre, now notorious for being the location of the Holy Grail, as described by that tome of authority and integrity, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (now a Major Motion Picture Starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou).

There were some balls in a palace behind the Louvre.

Sigh. Isn’t it romantic?

Tour Eiffel. Surprisingly, an affordable and interesting attraction. There are over 100 interpretive signs to read as you climb the Tower. I love interpretive signs.

Joan hangs out at Tour Eiffel.

Damjan commits what would be a federal offence in Australia: he tampers with Royal Mail.

People who know Damo will not be surprised to learn that we baked our own bread (really, the only option after returning from France, the land of heavenly bread, to England, the land of fish and chips).

People who know Joan will be surprised to learn that I made noodle soup — and it was good too, except that the noodles absorbed all the soup and it eventually became soup-infused noodles.