The Perfect Day

Today turned out to be an absolutely perfect day. This morning we bid farewell to southeastern Wales and we turned our little Mini Cooper back towards jolly old England. Our plan was to head for the city of Bath in the English midlands to visit the ancient Roman site in that city. Once on the highway, we soon discovered that Bath was much closer than we had thought. In the end, the trip took less than two hours. Piece of cake.

But as soon as we reached the city limits we had the misfortune to end up right behind a giant yellow school bus that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to pass. At one point I was nearly rear-ended by another big bus behind us and the driver very quickly let me know just how much he appreciated how much I've learned about English driving so far.

Then a thought hit me. I wonder, "I said to Concetta, "if this darn school bus is headed to the Roman baths. Since we really don't know where the baths are, maybe we should just stay right where we are and follow him."

And that's just what we did. Minutes later the bus lead us right to the area we were seeking. Almost immediately we found a dynamite parking spot that didn't tax my ability to park a right-hand-drive car and we were soon headed off on foot.

The first thing we encountered was a museum of historic fashions. Now Concetta was truly in heaven. Actually, I found it pretty interesting myself. You couldn't help but appreciate some of the workmanship that went into these clothes. Most impressive, they had a pair of gloves that were 400 years old, some of the oldest surviving fashion accessories in the world.

We were still at the fashion museum when tea-time arrived, so off we went to the museum cafeteria. Now, one of the culinary items we've been keeping an eye out for because Concetta has seen it on the cooking channel is something called "clotted cream." Well, this tea shop had the very item. So, tea today consisted of scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam along with a lovely pot of English tea. Clotted cream, though I can't tell you what it is precisely, appeared to me to be something halfway between whipped cream and butter. But whatever it is, I sure liked it.

After the tea break we followed the city's very precise and informative directional signs and soon came upon the Roman baths. Although everyone has at some time or another seen a documentary on the Roman city of Bath, me included, I was just blown away by the presentation there. It's nothing short of outstanding. The more I learn about the Romans and see their handiwork over here, the more impressed I am. One fact I remember is that 240,000 gallons of hot water a day flow through the Roman baths, even today. The Romans had hot tubs, steam rooms, cold plunges, and places where they could get rub downs and individual attention. Pretty neat for 1600 years ago.

After we toured the baths Concetta asked if we could try and find a glass-blowing shop she'd heard about. That sounded interesting to me, so off we went. We soon found someone who directed us and we found the shop without much trouble. Concetta loves glass blowing and I must admit that I find it pretty fascinating as well. For the sum of a couple of pounds they let you go back where the glass workers are plying their craft and watch as long as you want. Neat. Here's a couple of shots of the kid doing the work. Concetta asked him how he'd gotten into the business, thinking he'd say something romantic like, oh it was my calling since I was a child.

However, the young artist said, "Well, I was out of work and my girlfriend threw the newspaper listing at me and told me to go get a job. I've been here ever since."

So much for romance.

After the wonderful glass-blowing demo, we decided to try and find the car since it was getting on to four o'clock and I wanted to try and be in Salisbury by five-ish. Here the perfect day continued unabated as on a whim I suggested that we take a sort of left turn and see if we'd end up anywhere close to where we started that day. Wonder of wonders, we practically tripped over the car fifteen minutes later. And that wasn't the end of our good luck.

Almost right next to the car was something you see here a lot, a "Pay and Park" machine. I was supposed to have put in some money and put a parking slip on the dashboard. Unfortunately, I had totally missed the machine in my haste to park the car and get sight-seeing. Wonder of wonders, no one noticed. There was no parking fine on my window.

Once on the highway, we plugged the postal code for our Salisbury B&B into the our treasured friend, the GPS, and it soon had us out of the city and flying down the road toward the county of Wiltshire. Wiltshire is important in our itinerary because my dad's mother's family comes from the tiny village of Tisbury there. The Burtons were farmers in the early to mid 1800s and, for all I know, may yet be there as only a couple of the family members emigrated to America, my great grandfather being one of them. The remainder of the family stayed right here in England.

While we're in this area we also plan on visiting a person out of my distant past, a friend from the island of Malta whom I met way back in 1974 when I was living aboard a sixty-foot two-masted ketch in the harbor there. We're going to travel south to the seaside city of Poole tomorrow to see her and take in the sights.

Well, that's all for now. Concetta's been asleep for an hour and I better get to sleep myself.

Ciao, tutti.