Day 8

Another day started with Jonestown Coffee. I don’t know how I feel about leaving this neighborhood next weekend. I love the little organic grocery store (shout out to Dennis!) and definitely love this coffee place. But I’m sure we will go on to find even more amazing areas.

We went to Bankside today to see Tate Modern and the Millennium bridge. We ended up seeing Shakespeare’s Globe and St Paul’s Cathedral too.

Tate Modern was brilliant. It’s art that makes you think. Below are some of our favourite pieces that we saw today. We might go back because we probably missed things.

Day 9

We went back to Cereal Killer cafe today. Ever since we went the first time Katie has wanted to try the Mac and cheese. It was worth a second trip!

The Mac and Cheese was topped with chili corn flakes. Which sounds weird but is absolutely delicious. Cameron tried a different cereal mix, the Lon-don-don, and also enjoyed it!

No real plans today but someone had told us to check out Primark. We hopped on the Tube and headed towards Oxford Circle. The Tottenham Court Road station is a favorite. It has a piano that’s chained down at the station and some random passerby is always playing it! Also, there is a tunnel to one of the platforms with really good acoustics which we have seen some amazing buskers taking advantage of.

Primark, to put it mildly, was overwhelming. It’s like the young hip version of Target crossed with H&M and Macy’s. Four floors of everything from underwear to pillowcases to Buddha statutes. We got all the things we needed pretty quick but it was exhausting just being in the store.

Lucky for us, there was a McDonald’s next door! We (mostly Katie) have been wanting to try McDonald’s abroad to see if it’s different. And it was, sorta. The ordering is all touch screen and then you pick up your food from a person.

McDonald’s made us both cranky. It was heavy and actually not that different than at home. But we continued our adventures. We headed to Hamley’s Toy Store. This isn’t just any toy store. It’s five floors of toys! (In retrospect planning the two huge stores on the same day was probably a mistake.) But Hamley’s was fun. We reveled in all the toys we had as kids and were jealous of the cool stuff they are making for today’s kids that we still want as adults!

We also saw a palatial Apple store so large they had real trees inside. After all the store adventures we headed home. We had a chill evening. Got beers from our local off license shop and then played wizards in a new park by our place. This town has parks for days! When we got home we watched a rom-com (Cam’s suggestion – Stranger than Fiction). It was so good! (Will Farrell’s one and only not completely over the top role). Cam was walking around later in the neighborhood and met some of the local wildlife. A bedraggled looking fox came up from dumpster diving, gave Cam a once over, and went on his merry way.

Day 10

We slept in today. It was delightful not waking up until 9:00/10:00. We’ve started going at a much slower pace and it’s nice. We watch business people, working people, hurried people on the street as they pass us by now. A week ago we were hustle and bustle with them but something changed.

We saw the Tower of London today. We had a tour with a Beefeater or Yeoman Warder. These guys are interesting in their own right. There are usually only 37 at a time so its pretty prestigious. To qualify as a Yeoman Warder, any candidate must have served for at least 22 years in the armed forces, be a former warrant officer or senior non commissioned, plus hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal (a.k.a. “the medal for not getting caught” according to our guide). Beefeater Gin apparently sends each of them a bottle on their birthday. Our guide, John, was knowledgeable and funny and we learned a lot.

We then saw the Crown Jewels (gold punch bowls the size of baths + diamonds the size of golf balls), the ravens (they eat 170g of raw meat a day + bird biscuits soaked in blood, yummy!)  and all the exhibits. The King’s menagerie of exotic animals was housed there, including King Henry III’s polar bear, which was tied to a long sturdy rope so it could go fishing in the Thames.

We decided on Indian for dinner but hadn’t really decided on a place. As we turned onto Brick Lane a guy hustling for one of the restaurant tells us about a meal deal at his Indian restaurant. We decided fate had intervened and went for it. Walking inside, it seemed questionable. But we were excited to see if it turned out to be good. And if not we thought it would be a fun story, so why not!

It turned out to be mediocre but it was still a fun experience and the server and owner were great. The whole experience was entertaining. We watched many more patrons be convinced by the guys out on the street to come in and try this place. Many walked in with quite a bit of reticence while some people haggled to get an even better deal.

Day 11

Went to  the Changing of the Guard again to see if we could get a better view. Leaving the Tube station we could hear music so rather than walk straight to Buckingham Palace we went towards the music to Wellington Barracks. At around 10:30 each day the new guard plays music here and the troops prepare to go to Buckingham Palace. Even getting there after it started, it was easy to get a spot right at the fence. We would definitely suggest doing Wellington Barracks for the changing of the guard if you want to be able to see the troops.

Cameron was on a roll with jokes todays.

Katie was telling a boring story about not having water. Cameron’s response, “That’s pretty dry.”

To which Katie said, “That was terrible.” Cameron came back with, “If you don’t want it to be “tear”able try crumpling it up.” *eyeroll* Maybe we’ve been spending too much time together.  🧐

Borough market today. So. Much. Food. It was amazing. We had a venison pie, goats milk ice cream and alllll the samples! Wish we lived here because we would have bought lots of things. There was a spice shop that had every spice you could imagine. We spent a while in there but then realized it didn’t make sense to buy anything because we haven’t been cooking.

We did a quick tour of The Museum of London. Lots of interesting facts about the city. We also saw more of the old London Wall remnants. The wall is between these huge skyscrapers and easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it.

After we were heading back and tried to take the train, at 5:30 on a workday. We watched 5 packed trains go by and decided to take the 40 minute walk home. Not the best but better than being a sardine.

We watched the World Cup at the same place we went over the weekend. It was packed. We had wanted to go back because it was so chill over the weekend. Oops!

After the game (England lost), we went for pizza at You, Me and the Pizza. Literally it’s a guy making pizza and a women taking orders. A bare bones operation to say the least. And she spelled Katie in the best way on the order “keiti”. It was yummy and watching him make 15 pizzas at a time was entertaining.

Day 12

Yesterday was our last day in our first home away from home. It seems weird being attached to this place but it was home for almost 2 weeks and we had quite a few great adventures while staying here. We each got rid of a little bit (2-3 items) to try to lighten the backpacks. It didn’t make a huge differences and they are still VERY heavy. Pretty sure all these pictures of backpackers traveling carrying around their backpacks all the time are LIES!

Our new places was .8 miles (not sure how many kilometers were still working on that!) from our first place. That’s a pretty short walk compared to the many miles we’ve been doing every day. We packed up and headed off… not taking into account how heavy the bags are and then proceeded to stop twice to rest (in less than a mile).

We both vowed to get rid of more items that we aren’t using. We’ll let you know how that goes!

So the new place is… interesting, to say the least. We have decided to name this place Bongos and Guitars (because we have both available in our room). The AirBnb was described as an “eco recycled creative flat” and we didn’t know what we’re getting with that. Overall it seems clean enough so we’re not concerned about staying. It might take a while to get used to the interesting decor.

We went back to Borough Market but this time with a plan to buy some of the many things we had sampled. We made all of the interesting purchases; cherries, venison and wild boar sausages, drunk (wine infused) cheese, focaccia bread, and wine. Charcuterie done right!

We heard another person walking into the market say there were “far too much choices”. Which basically described how we felt.  #overwhelmed

We took our goodies from the market back towards our new places and found a new park. We had a lovely dinner picnic in the park. After we ate we played cards and hung out in the park until it started to get dark.

Day 13

Today was another day filled with good coffee, markets overflowing with goods and new parks to explore. We went to Spitalfields Market and Brick lane (they’re close to each other and its easy to do both). For lunch we did another picnic. I could get used to this!

We decided to stay in and watch Netflix. We went with a documentary series we had started watching at home, Chef’s Table. They follow a chef around and tell you their whole journey in life. The focus of this episode was Corrado Assenza of Caffè Sicilia in Noto, Italy.

We fell in love (with the idea) of this tiny town in Sicily.

With our trip itinerary not being planned yet we can go there! We looked up the weather and decided that going in October (off season so that it is less expensive) would be the best. We booked an AirBnb around the corner from the cafe. And we are looking forward to a restful break from the big cities.

While we watched Netflix we ordered Rusty Bike Thai through Uber Eats delivery. It was nice to be able to eat at home even if it wasn’t homemade food.

Day 14

Another lazy day in the park. These are the best between the long days sight seeing.

We had pizza from Franco Manco. Goat meatballs and mushrooms was the special of the day. It was pretty tasty. We got it to go and took it over by the canal and had a pizza picnic. The canal isn’t super pretty but it is relaxing to be by the water. We are liking our new home in Hackney.

London