You guys! So the trip. The one I’ve been mentioning? First stop: London. Oh, sweet, fantastic, amazing, London. I think I’m a Londoner at heart. I didn’t want to go home. Like, if I could, I’d gather Joe and Jones up, move there and maybe become a street performer. I mean, it sounds fantastic. Obviously, it’s not practical. But definitely fantastic.
I really cannot express how much I adore London. Like, imagine a beautiful, shiny red balloon, all inflated with helium and floating above your head. It just screams happy, right? Now imagine that it’s overfilled and sorta sweeps you off your feet and takes you for a ride down the street. That’s what London did to me. I kept notes every day, trying to remember our adventure. On the day of these pictures, here is what I wrote:
Tube to downtown, South Bank. Street performers: lively bubble man, juggler, chipmunk man in a box. Sequin Man, Metal Soldier, street food trucks, ferris wheel, swings. Bridges, Thames River. Art and book stands, chilly, overcast. Big Ben took my breath away: so imposing, historic, beautiful.
Westminster to Embarkment, Piccadilly Circus to Hyde Park to Paddington Station. Stopping at Starbucks to get directions online. Figuring it out without directions.
St James Square = Bentleys, Mercedes, fancy fancy fancy. Beautiful bride on her wedding day. Men in suits, college boys in vests with messy hair and British accents joking around. Children dressed so cute, on their way home from school. Pristine garden in the center of it all. Flowers. Everywhere. Beautiful and lush hanging baskets, even on construction awnings, small planters with flowers.
Black taxis, red double-decker buses. Traffic whizzing by, bicycles dodging pedestrians, random obstacles, black taxis, red double-decker buses. So fast, organized chaos. Look right. Look left. Green man, red man. Green man on a horse. Go, stop, ride the horse across. Way Out. Mind the Gap. Kaleidoscope of people.
Piccadilly Street lined with art. Hyde Park. The smell of roses. Picturesque. Quintessential London. Incredibly green, lush and gorgeous. Vast, wandering paths, bicyclists. Dogs walking, owners trailing behind. Trench coats, boots, scarves, hats. Prim, trim. Kids playing, caves of trees, paths covered in vines, benches, lovers, lake with swans, ducks, white and green striped lounge chairs.
FOOD. Delicious smells everywhere. Dinner. Oh, Dinner. Market food: organic tomatoes on the vine, plum tomato long and deep red. Crusty rosemary potato bread. Aged, sharp cheddar and garlic goat cheese. Petite organic strawberries, neon red.
Sister giggles. Are you twins? Look! Twins! People staring, but nope. Not twins. Getting lost and finding our way again.
Best.Day.Ever.
