Day 22

First night in the hostel last night was a little rough. A few things led to this.

1. London does not believe in air-con because it is usually a lovely 70-75 degrees at the warmest.
2. London is having one of the hottest summers on record.
3. People. 12 people in a very small room is a lot.

One guy came in the room around midnight. Laid down for a minute and then abruptly got up and said, “It’s a f***ing sauna in here.” He then proceeded to take his blankets and pillow and leave. He came back in the morning around 8:00 with his pillow and blankets in hand. Not sure where he slept but we have wonderings if it was in the bar downstairs (the only area with AC).

Luckily there was no snoring and hopefully night number 2 is better. We’ll let you know!

We spent the day around Greenwich. We had coffee and breakfast at a local coffee shop. Then we checked out Greenwich Market. It is a smaller market than some of the others that we have been to but it still had a lot of food and vintage items.

After the market we walked to the Prime Meridian. The views of London and the Thames from up there were breathtaking. While we were up there we also went to the Planetarium.

Afterwards we walked around Greenwich Park.

Noodle Time for dinner. This place boasts main entrees from £2.99. We are budget traveling so we decided to check it out. Best. Choice. Yet.

The food was delicious. We each had an entree and appetizer and the total came to £15.

Day 23

So remember when we said there was no snoring? We spoke too soon. Last night we became acquainted with the dulcet night time breathing sounds of Georgie aka buzzsaw. The entire room quivered with his snores and it was still hot. Very little sleep happened for anyone in the room, except Georgie, apparently.

The Royal Air Force flypast happened today. The military parade, the planes and seeing the queen were all fabulous. Check out the video (sorry it’s vertical) below.

After the flypast we chilled in the park while the crowds dissipated. It is crazy how fast thousands of people show up and disappear around here. People watching was fun. There was one gentleman in a top hat and quite a few ladies in fancy hats.

Next we went to the National Portrait Gallery. The number of free museums here is astounding. There is so much culture and history on display for free (although they do all have a conveniently placed optional donation receptacle).

We tried out a new place for food that we saw on our first day in London. It’s a little Italian place off of Trafalgar Square that claims to be “American Italian”. There is a little bit of homesickness happening and we decided this would be the cure. Cameron had bolognese and Katie had macaroni and cheese. The Mac was really tasty with delicious cheeses. The bolognese was satisfying but not as good as others we have found. Cameron has assigned himself the mission of finding the best bolognese in the world! (The smart money is on it being in Italy.)

Day 24

Yesterday was a lot of adventuring so we decided today would be a chill day around Greenwhich. Katie went to the market for breakfast and decided on a churro, because why not?

Went back to Greenwich Park. There is a huge red ball on top of Flamsteed House. This ball was used to help sailors on the Thames set their watches. At noon (or one, depending on daylight savings) the red ball drops. This only happens once a day so (before iPhones) if you miss it, you would have to wait until the next day to know what time it was!

Greenwich market for lunch (can you tell we like this market?). We had asian food that was a fusion of things. It was also close to the end of the day so he gave us extra for free!

We went to play cards at Greenwich park and relax this evening.  We didn’t realize how late it had gotten and that the park was closing, until we heard a loud speaker announcement. We began to pack up our things as the announcement over the loud speaker continued and then we realized the announcement was coming from a car. The car was driving around saying “The park is now closed. Please go to the nearest exit.” After driving on the paths for 2-3 minutes the driver decided people weren’t listening. He drove the car (slowly) through a group of kids playing soccer and then did a doughnuts around a group that was still enjoying a picnic. Watching him circle the picnic-ing group was funny!

We walked over to the Cutty Sark area near the park. There is a pedestrian tunnel that goes under the Thames. It was like the beginning of a scary movie walking through the tunnel at night time. It was also interesting and somewhat disconcerting to walk through the area of the tunnel that is reinforced with metal girders and to read the plaque saying the reinforcements were added after World War II bombings weakened that section.

Day 25

We started today with more coffee and scones. We went to Monsoon in Greenwich Market. It was a cute little place with tables outside. Today it was actually cloudy for the first time since we have been here.

In the afternoon we went back to the Demo Kitchen at Borough market. The recipes and tips that they give out were fabulous. Jenny Chandler is our favorite! We watched her make three dishes centering around a Seeds and Grains theme, including; Rice & peas, Black bean & corn quesadillas, and Butterbean, chard, & quinoa stew. Watching a Brit explain the concept of a quesadilla to a crowd of tourists and other Brits was hilarious. Taco was used interchangeably with tortilla and ultimately a quesadilla was described as similar to a little sandwich or sammie. All nomenclature jokes aside, after trying the quesadilla, Cam gave the tex-mex seal of approval. Not only did Jenny use spices (chipotles en adobo salsa), we learned more about the health benefits of capsaicin.

After the demo kitchen we walked around the market. It is amazing the variety of foods they have in a relatively small area. For lunch we checked out Kappacasein Cheese Shop. They specialize in two things. The Swiss raclette which is melted Ogleshield on a pile of new potatoes, pickles and onions. The other is toasted cheese sandwiches with cheddar, onions, and garlic on sourdough bread. We had the toastie and it was melt in your mouth delicious. We also watched them make the raclette aka melt half of a round of cheese at a time.

After the delicious but heavy grilled cheese toastie we needed to take a walk. We were near the beginning of the Queen’s Walk in Bankside. So we started following the “Queen’s Walk” signs. Some cool things that we saw along the way included the clink prison museum, Shakespeare’s Globe theater (recreation), Tate Modern (different view than when we went there), Bankside Gallery (free restrooms are hard to find, but it is cool when they come with cool watercolors to peruse), OXO Tower Wharf, the beach (see pics below), a library under a bridge, the Royal National Theater, a skate park, the London Eye, Westminster Bridge, Big Ben (still under construction) and Westminster.

For dinner we went back to Lanzhou hoping it was less busy than the first time we tried. It was highly rated on Trip Advisor and we didn’t want to miss out. It was definitely a good cultural experience but overall the food was just ok. The place back in Greenwich (Noodle Time) was way better and way cheaper.

Day 26

Trump followed us to London… Most of the time when people ask if we are from the States, they ultimately ask, “Do you like Donald Trump?”, but it is hilarious seeing who asks outright and who tries to feel us out and work up to it.

Our answer to that question is, “not at all”. And then the person asking the question tends to relax.

Today we joined in a protest of Trumps visit. First we went to see the Baby Trump balloon at Westminster. We were there pretty early so the crowd wasn’t revved up yet.

We went to get food before protesting began. There was a sushi place with good reviews on the edge of Chinatown, which we were close to. It is called Misato and had some yummy basic sushi and ginger pork. The pork was delicious and so savory. Sushi here keeps being disappointing because it is a more limited in the selection of fish (read Atlantic fish).

The protest was inspiring. They had a lot of great speakers and there were multiple ethnicities as well as a lot of women speaking. It gave us hope to see all of these people fighting for equity. There were a ton of hilarious signs in the crowd too.

They closed down the train station near the protest because of the number of people.  Right at the end of the protest it started raining, so we decided to get dinner before figuring out how to head back to the hostel. We went to Pizza Express. There is one of these Pizza Expresses basically every few blocks in the touristy areas of London and there are a lot in non touristy areas too. Its one of the only chains that we have gone to over here. We were hungry and it was pizza so we left happy. (Interesting side note, Europeans are not so into cutting your pizza.)

Day 27

After all the excitement of the protest we decided on a chill day around Greenwich. We started at the market. Katie had empanadas for lunch while Cam tried bolognese gnocchi from a place called Mamma Mia. (A solid meh on the Best Bolognese competition.)

We wandered around Greenwich seeing all our favorite things one more time because we are moving tomorrow. All the wandering made us hungry again so we tried a Greek pop-up by the Cutty Sark named Mr. Greek. We shared the gyro and it was delicious!

We made a last minute stop at the Fudge Patch. This place is addictive! It was right after they closed but they let us get some yummy fudge, anyways.

We went back to Noodle Time. It is so good. If we ever go back to London, a trip to Greenwich for Noodle Time would probably happen!

Day 28

We moved to a hostel closer to the train station that we leave from early tomorrow morning.

After dropping off our bags we went to a nearby restaurant, Gastronomica for lunch. Their menu looked delicious but the kitchen was closed because it wasn’t noon yet. We had sandwiches from the front.

We split up for the afternoon. Katie enjoyed one last stop at Spitalfields Market. She bought a new purse and browsed at a lot of items.  While Katie was at the market, Cameron watched the World Cup final.

After France won, people went crazy in the streets of London. (“Allez les Bleus!” was ringing through the underground) We met back up to go to dinner and we couldn’t walk more than a block with out hearing chanting, singing, honking, and yelling from the french flag clad fans.

Our last meal in London (for a while) had to be Piazza. This is the Italian place we went to in the first weeks in London, which now feels like forever ago. Cameron had the bolognese again (this one is #1 so far) and Katie tried a new spicy penne pasta that was even better than the ravioli the first time we came here.

After dinner we walked around London and reminisced on the last few weeks.

We have loved being in London but we are excited for more adventures in the English countryside. Tomorrow we are heading for Wedmore, England where Katie’s ancestors were from.

London