Britancelands

tl;dr We ate breakfast just off Portobello Road. Then we went to Winchester. We visited the Old Hall where a round table is that Henry VIII had re-painted. We went down to the old town area and got some pasties for lunch. We walked to Winchester cathedral. Wandered around some and attended a portion of a eye-blearingly boring  tour. We ditched that, and left to have some cake and coffee and go to the shop. From the shop we split up so Janet could shop. I was going to go back to Winchester, but was past the last entry, so I went to find ruined castle. After some side quests I failed getting there in time and returned to where Libby and Janet were. We then ate dinner, went home, and now I'm here typing this blog post.  More deets below Today we took a side trip to Winchester south of London. Before the trip to Winchester we got breakfast at a place just off Portobello Road called Pepperon. It was opposite Akoya and a door to two down from the corner. Libby and I (Tommy) sha...

 Lots of food. Lots of steps. Today we went on long food focused tour around the Borough Market on the south bank of the Thames near Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge station. Our guide, Isaac (redshirt in this video ), was entertaining, and told informative and engaging stories about the area. The market is a covered food market with everything from oysters to coffee.   Our first stop was The Ginger Pig for amazing sausage rolls. Next we went to Santa Nata to have a pastel de nata. This was a foodie bucket list item for Libby who first heard of them from the British Baking Show! It was wonderful! We also had some good fish and chips.  We also tasted some cider from Somerset, some delicious British cheese and we ended with sticky toffee pudding and ale at a beautiful pub named Boot and Flogger . It felt very special because we were lead down into the basement where the kitchen is and ate at a table as a group. It was a really good tour and our guide was a delight. Our...

 I forgot to mention a point of special interested yesterday on our Cotswold tour. When we were planning our trip Mom had said she wanted to see the Thames River, and we saw it in the Cotswolds! This right here is where the Thames River begins! This morning we said, "Goodbye" to Bath and "Hello" to London. We are staying in Notting Hill. After getting settled in our new place, we walked over to Portobello Road for the Saturday market. They close Portobello Road and the street is filled with vendors. There's a ton of antiques, different artworks, all manor of clothing, jewelry, hats, anything you could want. And food! We wandered very happily shopping and snacking. While we were wandering Tommy came across a Lebanese restaurant named Akoya . He showed us the menu, and we decided to go for dinner. We shared a couple mezze plates and a fattoush salad. It was very delicious! Tomorrow we are doing a food tour at the Borough Market!

 Today we took a day tour with Mad Max Tours and visited a handful of Cotswold villages. The area used to be famous for wool but now it's famous for the beauty of the villages and landscapes. First we stopped at Castle Combe. Next was Malmesbury Abbey Then Bibury and Arlington Row Stow-On-The-Wold was our lunch stop and, unfortunately, we didn't have time to see any of the village because our lunch took so long.... we went to a pub recommended by our driver but they were having issues today or something. Our food came out two minutes before we had to meet back at the bus to leave. So we wrapped everything in tinfoil and ate on the bus.... Last up was Bourton-on-the-Water It was a long day and the stops felt a bit rushed but we saw some very cute villages. For dinner mom had the biggest piece of fish I've ever seen.

 Hey y'all, we're back with another record of our day. We got up after getting varied amounts of sleep depending on which one of us you ask, and had breakfast at our accommodation before heading down around 9:15 to appear at our reserved time slot for the Roman Baths Museum complex.  The reason Bath exists as a town is the result of the natural hot springs found in this location. Peoples from the various time periods and geographic locations have all come here in some way as result of these springs made up of ancient waters that first landed in the Mendip hills before working there way down into the earth where it is super heated, and pushed up on this very spot! Because the complex is a combination of Roman and Georgian architecture, and it's from these time periods we have the most material evidence and as a result is our primary lens for looking through the structure.  The Romans built a bath and temple complex dedicating the location to Sulis Minerva, a syncreti...

We have arriven!  Today was a long one, but with far fewer mishaps than I experienced on my solo journey. The most annoying part of the whole journey was how unfortunately early we were at check in.  On to the good: There was zero wait at security which was a godsend. We and our luggage arrived in London together and . . . get this. . . (mostly) on time!!!! The flight itself is kinda awful. Being physically packed in like cattle has injurious effects on one's experience. Long, uncomfortable flight aside, this was an uneventful and smooth travel day. I asked a train question on Reddit and someone suggested taking the Elizabeth Line to Hayes & Harlington and from there to Reading where we'd take the train to Bath, but that was more changes, and we'd already purchased the Heathrow Express.  It's warmish and mostly sunny in Bath. Here's our view. Libby commented that this was probably the cleanest Airbnb she's been to. I'd agree.  After resting and getting ...