Bath and back to London

Today we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel in Coventry, and hopped on the bus only to find that four girls had either not received a wake-up call or had slept through it. Either way, with some help Karsyn, Adrianna, Justine, and Stephanie got ready miraculously quickly and we set off for Bath. Once we arrived (and made a point stop at Starbucks) we went to the Roman baths. An audio tour led us through, and I was very impressed by how well designed the whole place was. The baths are built over a natural hot spring, and the ruins are remarkable.

After the baths some folks took a guided tour of the city of bath by bus, while some of us opted to check out the city on foot. I went and bought the phone many of you dads received Happy Fathers Day calls on, then found a place with free Wifi to try and catch up here. It's a bit difficult to type on this itouch, so that took a while, but while I worked I had a wonderful lunch of roast chicken and miniature bread puddings, like the cupcake versions of the kind my mom makes every Christmas. I was struck by the fact that I was eating the kind of meal a Roman or Saxon might have eaten in the same place some two thousand years earlier, while typing on an itouch and sending messages around the world; a cool meeting of the ancient and modern.

We joined up and hoarded the bus to head back to London. There we got caught in a nasty snarl of traffic and lost some precious time. Mr. Witt planned on taking Ikaika, Jenn, and Jenni to see a show for Ikaika's birthday (he's 18 today) amd were very worried they'd miss all the shows. They jumped off the bus downtown, only to find all the theaters are closed on Sunday nights. When they caught back up with us at the hotel, after taking the tube back, Mr. Witt was not very happy at all.

After a very quick dinner of bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) we went back into London's East End for a walking tour about Jack the Ripper. The kids were really into it, urging the guide to give them every gory detail. I'm not sure if they've fully adjusted or if they're so tired they're slap-happy, but it seemed that everyone was in high spirits as we rode the train back to the hotel. I caught quite a few more memorable quotes which I'll post later on, but it's 1:30am, and though I feel very energized, I'd best get some good sleep for a long day of travel and touring Paris tomorrow.