Roasted Meat and Sore Little Feet
Travel Location: London,United-Kingdom
Since we’d had a late night partying the evening before, it was no surprise Kent and I didin’t wake up until after noon on Sunday. We took our time getting out of bed and watched a few episodes of Peep Show before really preparing for the day. Not that we had much to prepare for. A friend of Kent’s was celebrating her birthday at a local pub, but he had lost the email with the information. Our only other to-do for the day was a British Sunday roast, and now it seemed we had all afternoon to enjoy it!
We slowly made our way out, and just as we were about to walk through the door, Kent received a text from the birthday girl. Looks like we’d be doing some pre-roast partying after all! We took the bus downtown and after stopping for a snack, walked to The Harrison. The pub was packed and although we hadn’t planned on staying long, we spent nearly three hours just meeting people and chatting.
We left around 6, and headed straight for another pub (that’s how the Brits do it… right?). This time we ended up at The Queen’s Head. Kent had been raving about a roast he had previously ate here, and I was excited to have my very own taste of an authentic British sunday feast. We seated ourselves at a small table and opened our menus. I was thrilled to see a vegetarian option: roasted butternut squash (kind of a fave of mine, if you haven’t yet noticed), stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and goat cheese served with potatoes and yorkshire pudding! Yum! Kent ordered the chicken roast, and it wasn’t long before our meals arrived. They were both fantastically delicious! London has yet to let me down in the cuisine department. We walked home and lazily watched television until we were fast asleep.
Since Kent had worked on saturday, he decided to call in sick on Monday. Yay! We left the flat around 11 and walked to the nearby Breakfast Club for a late breakie. Kent ordered an bacon and egg sandwich and I decided to try the chorizo, egg and potato plate. When our meals were set in front of us, I think we were both a bit disappointed: Kent’s sandwich had sausage instead of bacon, and my plate (which I had expected to be more of a hash) had a giant whole chorizo sausage in the middle of it. Ew… but we both went with it, and were soon on our way.
On our way to where, you ask? Well, lemme tell ya. On one of his previous trips to London, Kent had been excited to discover the canals north of King’s Cross station. I had never heard of them, but apparently a huge canal system quietly exists in London. It was developed in the late 18th century with further expansion continuing well into the 19th century. Built to accomodate transportation of goods vias barges, the network of canals became commercially obsolete in the sixties with the advancements in ground transport. They are mostly used today for recreation. Certain areas around the canals have been remodeled or restored as picturesque riverside walks, and long narrow canal boats dock in marinas, ready to be taken for a midday cruise. We wandered along the canal, pausing occasionally to admire the ducks, random street art or, in one case, a sunken scooter. We also briefly made a detour through Camden Town Street Market, eyeing some cozy looking hats and super cute handmade crafts.
Quite a ways from where we started, Kent led me up some stairs and we emerged onto a street lined with trees and upscale pastel flats. We were in the fancy area of Primrose, and man was it pretty. We strolled through the neighborhood, trying to imagine what the interiors must look like, and stopped at the bottom of a large grassy hill. “At the top of this hill” Kent started, “is one of the best views of London you can get.” Wanting to be surprised, I closed my eyes and had him guide me all the way to the lookout. When we reached the top, Kent twirled me around and I opened my eyes to see an unimpressive street lined with cars and more nice flats. As I was wondering what I was really looking at, he began to giggle. “Turn around” he said. Wow! There was the view I had been expecting! What a little trickster. Sprawled out in front of us, beyond the huge green park, was the panaoramic London skyline. We sat down on a bench and took it in a bit before heading down the hill towards Regent’s Park. The rest of our day was spent walking. We walked through Regent’s Park, down Oxford Street to Regent Street, through Trafalgar Square and all the way down to Big Ben. We crossed the Thames River and continued walking along the river. It was nightfall by then, and the city’s lights reflecting on the water was another gorgeous sight. We hopped the bus at Waterloo, and since by now our legs and feet were getting achey (we would later discover we had walked over 9 miles that day!), we were grateful for the ride home. We picked up a pizza and spent the rest of our evening relaxing and watching some British television. ‘Twas yet another dreamy few days in London, and again I have Kent to thank. Thanks buddy!
