We ate a lot of interesting and good food in London and Paris - Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Greek. Pretty much a little bit of everything except French, which I'll explain more about later.
I had two favorite breakfast places. Antipodea in Kew prior to our garden visit where I had oatmeal with apricots that had been poached in chamomile tea and an Australian hot chocolate, called Mörk (and yes I totally picked it because of the name and also added it my names of future cats list).
The second breakfast place I loved was Dishoom, which is where we ate breakfast on Friday. The interior was so beautiful I felt like I could live there. Rachel spoke animatedly about the bathroom soap for hours. The place was cozy, smelled of incense, and was stunning. I had appam pancakes with shrikand, berries, fat, crispy coconut flakes toasted to perfection, and jaggery syrup which faintly reminded me of sorghum, a syrup I can't keep at home because of how much I love it. I also had my first chocolate chai.
On the way to our next destination, I nearly tripped over my feet when I saw this:
Most of the graffiti in London and Paris was lost on me, but I connected with this face. Maybe it's because it's the same face I have when I find out I'm way down the line for a book I really want to read. Btw this is called queuing in London. While waiting in a line in London, a lady asked me a question. I had no idea what the heck she was saying, so with mild embarrassment I asked her to repeat herself. She rolled her eyes, raised her voice, and pointed to the line I was standing in. "Are you queuing?" she demanded. Holy crap, lady, if the line means that much to you, by all means, get in it. I didn't say that. I just nodded yes and turned away from her wrath.
Next up for Friday - the London Transport Museum! I think this was my favorite museum of the trip, though the Winston Churchill War Rooms are a close second. We enjoyed learning about the history of transportation in London, including a buggy that had three horses and was a nightmare to drive and the growth and evolution of the wildly fascinating subway system. My favorite part was the Poster Prize for Illustration 2019 exhibit. My favorite art was a collection of napkin drawings by Haijing Chen during his London travels. The exhibit was overwhelmingly inspirational and beautiful.
Robert visited this museum as a child and was thrilled to share the museum with us. We were all surprised and delighted that the same subway driver simulator he played when he was a child was still there!!
After the London Transport Museum, we had casual afternoon tea at The British Museum. After my amazing afternoon tea experience at The Chantilly in Tucson, AZ with my brother, Scott, I knew I had to do an afternoon tea while we were in London. Though we reserved the tea, Robert and Rachel both still had an opportunity to do something different if they didn't want to do the tea. My heart exploded like fireworks when they both decided to do the tea with me. The aubergine chocolate cakes with meringue were the best treats (they tasted like extra fudgy brownies). The tea was excellent and Rachel thoroughly enjoyed the lumpy, irregular sugar cubes.
Look at that face! It's the best! (I tell Ella this about her face too lol). Robert did let me drink most of his tea in exchange for my scone, which was very sweet of him.
On Saturday we did something very special that will stay with me for the rest of my days. We visited one of the places on my bucket list, Highgate Cemetery, and it was balm for my soul. I don't care what happens to my body when I die. If there is someone who loves me when I go, they can do whatever brings them the most peace. I'm not wild about ending up in a cemetery, but if I do, I can only hope that nature prevails and ripples my grave as it claims everything that belongs to her. This is why I love Highgate so much. A nonprofit organization takes care of the pathways, but the families are responsible for the graves. If there is no one left to take care of a grave, it is mostly up to nature to decide its fate.
It was very windy during our visit, which I think added to the serenity and spirituality of the place.
There were snails everywhere. At one point, I stopped looking at graves and went on a snail hunt, which was exhilarating.
I love this ghostly flower, but haven't figured out what it is yet. It's pretty when it blossoms, but has such a supernatural radiance before the flowers pop out.
I love when trees have no respect for a beautifully carved piece of stone with life and death written on it, and they go about their business of flourishing.
After the cemetery, we were famished so we decided to try a bunch of London snacks. In London, pork rinds are both crunchy and spongy and British chocolate tends to have a higher fat and cocoa content, which made ordinary things like oreos and M&Ms taste different. The purple skittle in London is blackcurrant, the doritos are nowhere near the same as ours, and there are lots of other chips with unique flavors like roast beef and pickled onion. They also have salt and vinegar peanuts, which is something I'll be on the prowl for in Kansas City. The rice crispy treat did, however, surprise us because it tasted exactly the same.
Though they're not pictured, we did try a handful of beverages. Orange juice always tasted a bit watery. All of their sodas have reduced sugar, and their orange Fanta is yellow. Rachel and I tried a couple beers. Our favorite was Brothers toffee apple cider. Once, on a rare sunny day I made the mistake of asking for iced tea, and the waitress shook her head with shock and looked so upset I thought she was going to storm off. Ice is rarely served in London, and on the rare occasion it is, it is with juice. I think this has to do with the fact that most of our visit was cold, windy, and rainy, which sounds like fairly common weather there.
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