Day 24

Bermuda's Crystal Caves are strikingly impressive, even if they have been done up (expensively) as a tourist spot. The story goes that they were found by 2 teenage boys in 1907 who rappelled 120 ft into the darkness of a hole down which they lost a cricket ball. They got in free; 96 years on, Bermuda charges $12 for entry and a 15-minute tour, and thousands of visitors a year get to goggle at artificially-lit stalactites and stalagmites and have calcium-carbonate deposits drip on their head for good luck. I would have complained that it was a rip-off, but the BBSR paid for our trip on the pretext that caves are an important habitat for invertebrates, and thus something we ought to know about (yah, right). You can see Mamie's photos here

Random stuff

* Miranda confirmed my suspicions that she was named after the character on The Tempest, making it especially apt that she should be a young, eligible girl on the very island that inspired the play.

* RODPFBSE x lots. I have this down to an art, ladies and gentlemen.

* The British culinary odyssey continues for the Americans with grilled tomatoes for breakfast and meat pie (not for breakfast).

* Paris! Whee!