Emotionally, today was much better than yesterday. Some acceptance happened. Some coming to terms that I can’t change things back at home happened. Some new distractions happened.
Today was another no plans day – so we decided to check out the Tower of London. James and I are both history nerds, so give us a monument with 1,000+ years of stories to tell and we’re golden. Currently, the Tower is commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I with more than 800,000 ceramic poppies to represent all of the soldiers who perished. (You can learn more about this exhibit here). It’s breathtaking. Every corner you discover more red vibrant glass flowers.
We started by climbing the perimeter wall and learning about its uses over the years, wars, looting, soldiers, kings and prisoners. At the end we waited in a ridiculous line to see the crown jewels, which are indeed quite beautiful and overwhelming but not necessarily worth a long line (we luckily got in line before this started snaking around the building).
Having had our fill of history, we decided to try out a burger place that I read is gluten free friendly and also amazing to boot – Honest Burger. It totally lived up to its reputation. This place was amazing, waitstaff SUPER friendly and atmosphere similar to a place back at home that we both love (Grass Fed in JP).
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Oxford Street. We had two goals – Primark and Harrods. Completely opposite end of the class spectrum and both totally overwhelming in their own ways. For those of you who don’t know, Primark is a serious discount clothing store. Think H&M but cheaper. James fell in love with some very European jeans and bought a few pairs. I mostly purchased ugly comfy sweaters to wear around the house.
Harrods was overwhelming in that some handbags probably cost more than our honeymoon. We buzzed through to the gourmet food section (we really do love grocery shopping).
At this point, James and I were done. Spent. Exhausted. We made our way back to our flat in Fulham. After a quick trip to the grocery store, we spent the rest of the evening making dinner together, eating outside and now trying to find some non-reality TV on British cable. We’re failing pretty horribly.
