Road Notes

A style of travel
Our ( my ) predilection is to stay put while vacationing
First , some clarifications
' vacation ' , we are retired , we don't get to vacation.  A vacation is a spell away from the ' humdrum of normal life ' - ipso facto , we are touring
' touring ' implies moving. We don't move.
We have been in Bath , now , for 5 days.
Yesterday , the group of 3 visited the ' Roman Baths ' , the 1 st C baths created by the Romans and restored by the Bathians of to - day. The group incl M was in there for 2 hrs.
This time allowed me to : a find a washroom , saunter about and get a beer.
My choice was the smallest pub in Bath , named the Coeur de Lion.
The beer was Adnans , SouthWold Bitter ,a  very good brew.
Previously , I had tried Gem bitter in Bathampton Mill ( upstream from Bath ) , Wadworth ale in the Saracen's Head in Bath ( the oldest in Bath , built 1713 ).

And yesterday , as well John Smith ale and Butcombe bitter in the Crystal Palace. John was the loser , here , OK    but Butcombe , splendid
Back to the time alone in Bath. Sat on a bench , listening to the buskers in Abbey Square , I basked in sun ( first for our trip ) and struck up two conversations.
Chris             ( later hubby Rick ) from Washington State.
                      Their plans for 3 weeks incl. London , Bath , Wales ,                          the Midlands of Eng. , Scotland ( Edinburgh and                                Inverness ) . She added , ' we may have been over                              ambitious '.
Helga             is an ex - pat tour guide for German visitors arriving                         by bus. She was the locum hired by tour companies.                         She  has lived in Bath for 19 yrs. Her last group ?                              German tourists dropped of by bus and picked up 2                          hrs later. The upshot ? 1 1/2 hr in Bath. Helga said                            they ran  through Bath Abbey church. The bus was                            headed for Southampton and the ferry home.
 I added ' we are here , for 7 days , just looking '. Helga said ' fantastic , you are doing it right '. No , we didn't pay her to say that.
As we were leaving , discussing pubs - our days seem to revolve around food and / or beer , Helga walked over and said ' the Couer de Lion is nice - try the Crystal Palace. Ah , thats how you got there , you say.  Yepper !! The Lion , as they say here , specializes in most things fried , not the beer, though.
Oh , we got pooped on by pigeons ( ? ) as we sat in the garden patio of Crystal Palace
- nasty greeny looking stuff - ugh and ugh.