Finding Balance: London--Days 3 and 4

Friday was "market day." Actually, every day was market day, but on Friday morning we went early to Old Spitafields Market in East London, to Brick Lane, a nearby street with tons of vintage clothes' markets, and to Real Food market in South Bank. If I were a travel blogger I would be telling all my followers to GO TO THE MARKETS. I'm obsessed with them all and could have spent the entire weekend just browsing around, talking to shop owners, trying on vintage clothes, and sampling the delicious homemade goods (actual food and otherwise...aka the Welsh ice cream stand).

Lunch was a greek food alongside the market. Old Spitafields is a clothes market only, so we ate a restaurant that has a fiew chains around London, but you won't hear any complaints from me. We both ordered the 10 pound 2-course meal: I had rosemary pita with hummus and some kind of artichoke dip I've never had before as an appetizer (pictured, and so good), eggplant in red sauce, sausage and cilantro, and roasted potatoes. Nothing on the menu like what I'd find at Med Deli, but it was a welcomed twist to one of my favorite palettes.

Where I finally found my hat I've been searching so diligently for

...and then we decided we hadn't had enough of the markets so we made our way to Covent Garden Market for Ben's Cookies. The biggest, most perfect masterpieces of a dessert I've had in a while. Spain just doesn't understand what I want in a cookie, but Ben certainly does.

I promise I didn't only eat this day, we did a lot of walking too. But we did go to the market nearest Stephen's flat for dinner. I could meander this place forever, but one stand I steered from was the Churros y Chocolate. I've seen way too much of you, my fried dough nemesis.

We each got a pierogi, I had turkey, parsley and onions inside; Stephen had sauerkraut, mushrooms and unions

...and I got a ciabatta sandwich with turkey sausage, extra pickles, for later :)

That night we went to see Mamma Mia, even though Stephen's already seen it. We got last minute tickets, first row way up in the balcony. I'm usually not one for musicals but I knew this music and I always have a good time when I see Stephen dancing. I didn't expect to see a show, so when he told me he wanted to go it actually made my day. I would have been happy just hanging out, but it was really cool to do something different, and in London no less! I am so grateful that Stephen enjoys things like that and that he enjoys taking me along with him. It also made me think about how I could be doing pretty much anything and if we were doing it together, we'd find a way to make it fun. I think that's what I loved so much about this day. It was totally different from anything we've ever done together, but it still felt so normal. The blessings of a genuinely full day like this- and I mean filled with things I did and places I went, but also filled with such happiness and contentedness with everything around me- are not lost on me. If I had only gone to London for a day and had to return the next morning, all the travel time would still be worth it. But I still had 2 full days ahead of me!

Saturday, I call my "exercise and explore" day. We did about a 2-mile run to the Tower Bridge where we stopped to take a few pictures (more like a few dozen) and then jogged/walked to, surprise surprise, another market where we met Alec, Stephen's roommate. From there Alec showed us the way to a secret doughnut shop that's only opened until 2 on Saturdays... say no more I am there. It was quite possibly the best post-run meal I've ever had. It was also maybe the coldest I've ever been when I ran, so I brought Stephen's ski mask along with me just in case, and at the first chance I got I ordered the thickest hot chocolate and drank every last sip. Also perfection. Now that we'd had our doughnut fix, we could focus on lunch at the Borough Market. Again, I could barely make a decision but decided to go with a hummus and veggie burger stand. We spent some of the afternoon trying to warm up, just hanging out inside, but decided to go to Gordon's Wine Bar around 5. You can't even stand up straight in this place, its almost totally underground, and the walls are like caves. Needless to say the wine was probably too expensive, but the atmosphere made it worth it. We scored a perfect corner table after waiting around, watching various potential leavers like hawks and moving in as soon as a couple started reaching for their jackets. That night we used a buy-one-get-one pizza coupon at a place near Stephen's flat...and if I keep talking about food in this entry I'll need to steal something from Cristina's kitchen, but I'll just say it was delicious and leave it at that. And then we went to a potentially gay bar with two of Stephen's roommates and played darts (a game at which I am horrible, I now know; as a member of Stephen's team, I made us double our score at least twice and he still managed to come back and win it for us...typical).