Tuesday -- Finally Getting to the Point

[Which might have been titled, "We See Dead People", but that seemed inappropriate given that we also saw grandparents.]

The Bath House apparently doesn't have a central dining room, so breakfast is delivered to your room -- you order it the night before by checking the time and food on a card, similar to many hotels. I rarely do this, since it is often stupidly expensive, but breakfast before clothes (and not having to do it myself) really is kinda decadent.

I went for the traditional English Breakfast, to compare with the American version. The sausages were good -- pepper-spicy but less salty than the usual American breakfast fare. The bacon, OTOH, was OMG salty and very tasty, and a bit meatier than most American bacon. The highlight of the meal for me, though, was the crumpets, and realizing that these must be what Thomas' English Muffins are trying to imitate: springy, flavorful, replete with nooks and crannies for butter to flow into. Mmm, crumpets. (Now I'm wondering if there anyone makes a decent version of them here.)

We had a couple of hours before we needed to hit the train (especially since we knew that Kate's folks, driving from London, were running slightly late due to coffee delays and draconian traffic laws), so we wandered over to Bath Abbey:
( Pics from the Abbey )

Back to the train for the quick (< 30 min) trip over to Bristol Temple Mews. Cab to the hotel, where we met up with parents. Wandered down to the pub for cider, beer, and disturbing potato chips. British crisps are just like American potato chips, except that they are a *lot* more creative with the flavors. The steak and onion was definitely the winner for "strange, but tasty".

We wandered over to the assisted-living facility where Eric (Kate's grandfather) is living, rendezvoused with Aunt Linda and Chris (Kate's brother), and introduced me to Eric. On the one hand, he turns out to be not much taller than me; OTOH, that's because he is 92 and *quite* stooped by now. He clearly would have towered over me, probably even just a few years ago.

Then we packed up the whole family to the home where Vera (Kate's grandmother) resides. It's a lovely place (frankly, much nicer than most nursing homes I've visited), and introductions were made again. Kate, knowing exactly how this was going to go, sat down next to Vera and was told, "Ring", which she duly showed off.

Since the occasion (and the point of the trip) was the celebration of Vera's 90th birthday (actually the previous month, during the Olympics, but we weren't dumb enough to travel to London in that), the home provided us with High Tea -- really, a preposterous amount of food given that there were only eight of us. Delicious sausage rolls (pigs in blankets, but better); strawberry tarts; pate sandwiches; birthday cake; etc, etc. Fortunately, it was explained that the leftovers would be the afternoon snack for the home, else I would have felt guilty at how much was left.

Then wandering around the neighborhood, first with Peter (Kate's father) and then the whole family, and thence back into town, where I sprang for dinner at Severn Shed (which it appears, based on the website, is in the process of being acquired by a chain). Good food, but the mixed apps that I got were a bad choice: all of it was hard on my stomach. And the first attempt to serve me was a failure -- it was clear that "bring my apps with everyone else's mains" turned out to be "make the apps in advance and leave them sitting on the counter while everything else cooks", since they were almost stone cold when they arrived. (And cold fried calamari is *nasty*.) It had to be scrapped and redone, although it was good on the second go-round. Not a failure of a meal (and better than Lunn House), but mixed.

Next: more family time

Wednesday -- Back to London

We had a good night at the Bristol Hotel (which the family knows as Juries, despite the fact that I don't think the hotel has had that name in decades); the only complaint was the bizarre shower door, which we'll cover later when we get to Granada and "European Hotels Are Weird".

Quick visit with Eric, then over to the pub for lunch. Somehow, I don't expect a British pub to make a great Eggplant Lasagna, but this was a winner: layers of eggplant, broccoli, spinach and just enough pasta to provide structural integrity, held together with bechamel, with a thick layer of melted cheese on top, all baked golden-brown in a crock. It even went well with the ale -- yum.

Thence back to Vera's so that Kate and Ann (Kate's mother) could have some quiet time with her, while Peter and I were shooed away. He took me on an hour-long driving tour of Bristol (where he and Anne had gone to college), showing off the riverways and gorges. It was a slightly forced bonding experience for both of us, but it's a pretty town and made for a pleasant diversion.

Back on the train to London, and I finally got to meet pir, back from a trip to Brazil. We geeked a bunch as he set up his new TV, and he showed me the insane flashlight that he got as swag when he was working at Google. It was powered by some sort of high-powered batteries, and even on the lowest setting was crazy-bright, with LEDs running so hot you could feel them. (On the highest setting, I suspect you could direct air traffic.) This was all given mainly as a demo of how powerful the batteries were, and why he was repurposing them to build a portable charger for his Mac. This was also when I discovered that he knows keshwyn and a bunch of my other friends from his time working at Tufts.

A pleasant dinner of Indian delivery food (quite good, as promised), and to bed.

Next: Off to Spain

Geekery in the Globe

I suspect this is making it's way around the blogosphere fairly efficiently, but for the locals who haven't seen it yet: Gundormr just pointed me at this article in yesterday's Globe. It's a brief celebration of Boston-area geekdom, mainly consisting of a long list of the various forms of geekery in the area. Intercon gets a mention (Nat was one of the people quoted), and the SCA gets most of a paragraph (with Shana as the quotee).

Nothing terribly new and different for most of the people here, but it's a useful summary to point folks at...