London, Day Two

Looking fabulous!

One of the most beautiful things about being on vacation, is not having to set the alarm to wake up in the morning. After I climbed into bed last night, I realized my alarms were still set. Not wanting to be disturbed in the morning, I got up, padded over to where my phone is plugged in, and turned off all the alarms. So, imagine my surprise when the phone rang at 9:00 am with a wake-up call I did not request. I'd slept longer than intended, but isn't that what vacation is all about? 

Our view from the second story of the double-decker bus.

There was no going back to sleep after that, so I got up and got dressed. I'd found an award winning patisserie online and wanted to check it out. We took a bus, the train, and the subway, then walked a few blocks to get to this place and it was the most rinky-dink hole-in-the-wall place I'd ever seen. They did have good food, though. 

A grilled cheese sandwich, with tomato, on sourdough bread and tomato soup.

Next door, we found a quaint little book shop. I had to stop there, of course! I found a great gift for a good friend and, even though I had to lug it around with me the rest of the day, it was too perfect to pass up.

We walked through Regent's Park. It was packed! The weather was perfect for a day at the park and everyone was out to enjoy it. There were biker's, joggers, dog walkers, skateboarders, soccer players, and families; including a little boy flying a kite! There was a hill covered in people just sitting there, enjoying the sun.

We passed through to the London Zoo. It's a small zoo, but you get very close to many of the animals. We saw an amazing Deadly Birds show there. Some of the birds flew close enough that I could have reached out my hand to touch them. Of course, that would probably have cost me some fingers, but it was thrilling being that close to them. I was impressed with how intelligent the birds are. I didn't know they could be trained to do tricks! Some birds were better trained than others, but the naughty birds made the show even better. It was hilarious watching the handlers try to make get them to follow their cues and prompts when the birds clearly had no intention of doing as they were being told.

We had a late lunch at a place called Pizza Express. My pizza was decent, but I think the dairy here is giving me acid reflux. The pizza was huge! I could only eat two slices. My biggest pet peeve about this place is that the service at restaurants is ridiculously slow! We sat there for 30 minutes, just waiting for someone to bring the check! It's been that way at every restaurant. People here spend hours at a meal! I just want to eat and go ... 

We hurried off from there to try and catch a canal boat tour. Unfortunately, I misread the guidebook and the last tour was long gone by the time we got there. My mom had a headache and my whole body ached from the rigors of all that walking, so we set out to make the hour long journey back to the hotel. To get back to Croydon, we had to travel through Victoria Station. It's massive! I've never seen anything like it! I'm excited to see Grand Central Station when I go to New York in August, so I can compare them.

We made it back to the hotel without getting lost. I hope that's a sign we're getting the hang of the public transportation system here. It's complicated, but you can get everywhere if you can figure it out. I have the feeling I'll figure it out just in time to get to the airport for our flight home.

I was hungry again by the time we got back to the hotel. It started raining and the temperature dropped several degrees, so we decided to get tea and some food from the hotel restaurant. My mom just got dessert, but I ordered the ribeye steak. It was good! Better, I think, the the beef at home. The meat was incredibly flavorful. It's a fatty cut of steak, but it never felt greasy. It had a clean taste.

A few years after becoming vegetarian, I worried that if I ever ate meat again I wouldn't be able to stop. Now that I've eaten meat two days in a row, I feel more committed to not eating meat than ever before. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's the way I feel. It's exciting to try new things, and I don't want to miss a single experience, but I don't miss eating meat; not even a little bit. I'm glad I did it. It reaffirmed my choice not to eat meat as a part of my everyday diet. I'm just not a meat-eater anymore. 

Just to recap, I had a rude awakening, got some great tomato soup, visited some books, took a stroll through the park, saw a deerbra at the zoo, got more bad service, rushed through the streets of London to catch a boat that had already sailed, got from one side of London to the other without getting lost, ate some dead cow, and realized I'm going to be a vegetarian forever. 

Not bad. Not bad at all.