Ginnie's in hot water - or at least in Bath

Ginnie speaking:

If you are ever going to do a rail journey in the UK, it is worth checking fares on the internet. Today I went to Paddington to Bath Spa to meet my old friend, Mike, for lunch. He had warned me about fares (i.e. that paying on the day would cost me in the region of 150 pounds. Bruce checked this up and found it to be true. The return fare he managed to get for me on line was 45 pounds. If I had paid on the day it would have been 165 pounds. Incredible but true.
I had a super day, really enjoying the scenery from Paddington down to Bath Spa; old familiar places still there. However, the box tunnel which used to take more than ten minutes to get through on the steam trains of my childhood now takes just a couple of minutes with the modern high speed trains. Bath was great; as busy as always. It would have been really splended without all the pesky Australian tourists. Mike took me to the Rose and Crown, a typical British pub at Charterhouse, an ancient Somerset village. After a lengthy pub lunch, we went on to The George at Norton St Phillips. The buildings which now constitute this pub featured significantly in the Battle of Sedgewick. It was a place Mike and I used to frequent back in our teens. Bruce and I have tried to find it several times because I know he would be interested in it. Now that I have relocated it we will have to come back again.

The day progressed with a drive back to Bath and afternoon tea at the Pump Room. The trip back to London was uneventful and Bruce met me at Paddington and took me to dinner at a stylish Italian Restaurant near our hotel. A lovely day!

Bruce speaking:

While Ginnie was having a ball in Bath, I revisited some of my favourite spots in London. The first, of course, was the laundromat to catch up on our dirty linen. But after that everything improved (that's not surprising). I went to the National Portrait Gallery and visited an exhibition of paintings of theatre personalities. My favourite portrait was that of Judi Dench; one of those striking pictures where the eyes follow you wherever you go. There was also a very nice, informal portrait of the royal family.

From the portrait gallery I moved on to the National Gallery to look at their nineteenth century collection and the El Grecos. In both cases they have relatively small collections and while they are good, they are not great. I think the Tate and Courtault are generally better and certainly the Tate is better on the pre-Raphaelites.

The afternoon was spent in a long and very enjoyable walk along the Victoria Embankment and around the Palace of Westminster. It would have been really splended without all the Brits there. A little time checking my e-mail and then met Ginnie on her return from Bath Spa and went for a nice Italian dinner.

Tomorrow its the Eurostar to Paris.