March 28 we left Calgary via a 9+ hour flight to London, to begin our first-ever holiday in England. Thanks to national express bus service departing just a couple hours after we landed at Heathrow, we arrived in Bath late in the afternoon on March 29. A light rain fell as we walked from the bus station through the center of the old town, towards the Kennard Hotel, a lovely B&B just a short walk from the Abbey and the Roman Baths. ‘Though burdened with luggage and bone-tired after almost 15 hours of travel, we were compelled to pause long enough to photograph the arched bridge and river. We later learned that the bridge is one of only two in all of Europe with shops on both sides (the other is in Venice – we crossed it in 1995).

After dropping our bags, we headed out for an early supper and some geocaching! within 24 hours of landing in England we’d logged one virtual, one earthcache, one traditional and one puzzle cache. Since the virtual and earthcache related to two of Bath’s prime attractions – the Abbey and the Roman Baths – they were on our "must do" list while in the beautiful Georgian town. We also paid admission to tour the excavated portions of the baths, well worth the price of admission. Mrs. GeoK photographed Mr. GeoK and Youngest GeoKid on the balcony overlooking the baths, with the Abbey in the background.

We ended our tour with a stop in the "tap room", where we had the opportunity to taste the spring water.

The guys’ smiles turned to frowned at the first taste of the bitter water, which we later learned contains traces of arsenic!! It’s a miracle anyone was "cured" by the Georgian-era baths and spa!

Other "must do / see" attractions in Bath included the free mayor’s guided walk, visiting the Circus and the Royal Crescent, and Jamie’s Italian (a Jamie Oliver restaurant). The entire town is designated as a UNVESCO World Heritage Site and we’re glad we allocated a couple days of our holiday to this "golden" town that so represents two great eras in human history: Roman and Georgian.