London Calling

If you missed it, we visited London over Memorial Day weekend! Our first post can be read here. We’re back with Day 2 of our whirlwind surprise trip, today. The jet lag caused us to be slow-moving, so we drank some french press coffee as we got ready for the day. Once we got out the door, we made our first stop at Paul’s which is a local franchised bakery/coffee shop. Definitely had to grab all varieties of croissants. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we sat outside and sipped our Americano coffee and munched our pain au chocolat and almond croissants.

Once fortified by the baked goods, we hopped on the tube to get to Camden for the Camden Market. It is such a funky, colorful area. We spent many hours wandering through it, in and out of the little stalls eyeing the little trinkets and wares. Caitlin called me over and to my excitement found a perfectly distressed vintage Levi denim jacket. I bartered the seller down a bit, and it was mine! If you’re on the hunt for a jean jacket, head to your local thrift shop or Goodwill. Don’t think twice about hitting up the men’s section. Jean jackets are completely unisex, and all the different fits are “in” right now anyway. Suffice to say I wasn’t going to find a women’s size that fit me this well.

After I bought my dream of a jean jacket, we continued on through the market to find some sustenance. We had heard about Honest(?) burgers and there happened to be a mini restaurant/stall in the market. You know we had to grab one and check it out. As someone who loves a burger, I was duly impressed. We also split some fish and chips for the authentic London experience. There are so many little shops to wander through, you can easily take up the bulk of your day there. Before we left, we stopped in a brewery that was on the second level. Whenever traveling, Caitlin enjoys finding some local breweries and we enjoyed an IPA.

On such a lovely day, we felt compelled for a wander through one of the many beautiful parks London has. Regent Park was close enough and in the same direction as our Airbnb. We ended up strolling through and then stopping for a bit of people watching on a bench. One of my favorite things in new cities is seeing different fashion and especially how people mix fashion and functionality when they’re doing heavier walking than our driving-centric city.

We did a bit of research on dinner that night and settled on Indian Food. In Milwaukee, we don’t have a lot of options and we had heard London was renowned for their restaurants. Dishoom seemed the obvious choice via Yelp. A side note, Yelp doesn’t seem to have a huge standing in London. Might want to check different apps for food research like OpenTable or the like. But Yelp came through for us on this find. It was a moody, almost speakeasy-like vibe. Maybe it had to do with being seated in the basement. Totally a lovely intimate spot. We ordered a bunch of small plates again and tried everything to our heart’s desire. All the recommendations our waiter made were spot on, and we had a wonderful experience. We would recommend in a heartbeat.

After dinner, we were in the mood for some ice cream. Being in the theater district, we headed down the street and found a Gelato place rather quickly. As we were enjoying the flavors, we noticed there were several pubs in the immediate vicinity. What better way to round out the night than grabbing a cocktail? We walked in and immediately found a perfectly place table (or so we thought). After we settled in with our drinks, we realized we were next to a bachelor or as they say Stag party. They were having a GOOD time, aka they were feeling the booze. Before we knew it, they were basically sitting at our table with us, talking about mainly about our height and more oddly, hand size. They were equal parts enamored with it and seemingly terrified.

Encounters of that sort have a bewildering feeling. You’re never sure if you’re being celebrated for your height or insulted. At least that’s my feelings on it. You can hardly reason with someone that inebriated but we did our best to correct them at opportune moments. All in all, it was a unforgettable night of laughs out in London! Stay tuned for the rest of our trip.

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