Day 29: An Indian Sandwich
- Marlena Skrabak
- Jul 8, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 21, 2019
This day had been planned to the T. Not an hour in the day was lacking something to do.
Indian food for breakfast was the plan. Let me tell you, it was beautifully executed. Walking into Dishoom in the morning, the smiling faces of the waiters covered in PRIDE gear seated us at a table in the Art Deco inspired restaurant. Sipping on English Breakfast Assam tea and biting into a deliciously sweet appam stack of pancakes topped with creamy shrikhand, fresh berries, toasted coconut flakes and jaggery syrup, I could not have been more content.
After finishing the entire pot of tea myself, it was time to continue on with the day towards the Victoria and Albert Museum. On our walk towards the museum, we passed a massive entirely gold statue of Albert chilling in the middle of a park, glinting brightly even in the sunless day.
Arriving at the V&A, we made a beeline to the jewelry exhibit after perusing the fashion one first of course. Entering the dark room, the jewels upon jewels popped into existence where the minimal lights made their surfaces glitter. Towards one end, a spiral of rings were presented, and I wished I could try each and every one on. Unfortunately, I had to come to terms that I wasn’t royal. Realistically, I am quite okay with that fact even if it means I can only look at the rings.
Then we went to one of the coolest things I have ever done. The tube took us to God’s Own Junkyard. What is that you ask? I will bet that it’s not what you think. An old warehouse in the northern part of London is decorated from floor to ceiling with neon lights. This is NOT an exaggeration. FLOOR TO CEILING. I felt like I was floating in a dream, that something like this could not exist in the real world. Surrounded by glowing lights on all four sides, my body temperature rose a few degrees, but it was so worth it. To christen the experience, we had to get Earl Grey tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam. Full throttle English over here.
Spending the afternoon in awe, eventually we had to say goodbye to the Junkyard.
The walk towards the train took us through a cemetery with buried people from the 1800s. The scent of lavender drifted through the air as we made our way under the trees, an eerie walk as there was no lavender in sight. Past the cemetery, the row of cottages paired with the coolness of the day felt like a scene out of Sing Street. How could this be summer I was asking myself.
Catching the tube, we headed to Covent Garden to grab ourselves some English pies at Battersea Pies. The philosophy is…eat our way through London…in case this hasn’t been apparent yet. Deciding to share a pie, we went untraditional with baby butternut squash and goat cheese covered in warm gravy. This golden little pie plummeted to what could have been its death as my clumsy self sent it spinning out of my hands and towards the ground. Fortunately, there was only minor gravy spillage with the pie remaining relatively unharmed. It still tasted quite good if I do say so myself.
Having the desire to explore a little bit more by walking we headed to Leadenhall Market. On our way, we stopped in the courtyard of Somerset House to take in its grandeur.
Passing by some very important looking parliamentary buildings and taverns right out of a period piece or historical drama, the streets became increasingly empty. It felt strange, as if the world was off somewhere else and we just didn’t get the memo.
Surrounded by white columns and looking out to metal skyscrapers, I could have been walking the streets of Boston.
Reaching Leadenhall, it was also eerily empty, as if London closed itself down early for the evening. A little confused, the region City of London felt deserted to us. Where was everybody?
Despite its emptiness, the market place was still beautiful and I could see how it inspired some scenes out of Harry Potter.
The next stop was Saint Dunstan’s Church Garden, a fairy-like place with green ivy stretching out across the few walls that remain, snaking through the empty gothic windows.
Phone power going down, we made a quick stop into a Starbucks, not for the coffee but for the charging stations.
After getting our phones to a respectable charge, we saw the London Tower which was actually surrounded by a moat. I said something intelligible like "Wow that is actually a thing that exists." and coincidentally will never live it down. The Tower Bridge was the next must-see destination which we were lucky enough to watch open and close.
On the other side, we stopped in a Sainsbury to get nothing other than Cadbury chocolate. How could I say I experienced London if I didn’t eat their chocolate.
Reaching the Globe Theater next after the necessary sugar rush, we had the slightly disconcerting experience of listening to some songs of King Lear…
Because we decided that our dead bodies were not dead enough yet, we walked to Lahore Kebab to end the day with Indian food, in the same way that we started it. I made my stomach so full on Chana Masala and vegetable samosas that it hurt. Pair that with garlic naan and I was ready to explode. Sorry Trader Joe’s, they have you utterly beat on the garlic naan front. Despite the pain my stomach was experiencing, I could not deny the deliciousness of the food in front of me. For a little dining entertainment, I watched a man spill an entire plate of food on the ground which splattered everywhere, including on the man sitting at the table next to him.
Planning to meet up with some people back in Covent Garden, we ran to grab a double decker bus in the rain. Sitting in the very front on the top level, I felt like we were running over all the little plebeian cars below us…and…we were on the WRONG side of the ROAD….AHHHH. The feeling was beyond strange.
Our plans went a little astray and we had to do some last minute planning. Choosing a bar at random, we tried to get into Blame Gloria but we had to be 21 (?). Confused to say the least, we were stuck outside in the rain. We could not go back to the place we were staying because the people who had the keys were very far away from us (even though one said she would meet us at Covent Garden i.e. the reason why I mentioned that the plans went astray). Meeting up with a different friend, somehow this girl sweet talked the security guards into letting us in. Down in a cave decorated in pink flowers, we sat down and stared at her in awe. How did she do it?
Some people just have this sort of hypnotizing effect on others; she is one of those people.
Sitting in the dryness of this tunnel surrounded by middle aged drunkards, we thought we might as well have a shot. Asking the bartender for something weak, he made a substance that tasted like coffee ice cream as it slid down my throat. All I know is that Bailey’s was involved.
Then some dude slid into our booth and asked this other girl what the marks on her face were. She explained that they were rainbows from Pride today. He then looked at her and I weirdly and asked us if we were proud of ourselves. I had an inkling of what he meant, but I wanted to be sure. With an incredulous tone, I asked "What?!" He eventually came right out with it and asked if either of us was gay. Answering for myself I said no. He gave me a look, and then proceeded to ask if I was still Pride proud to which I gave him my deadliest stare and said yes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. My eyes said "Get the hell away from us!" and the next thing I know, he sure did.
To add to the strangeness of this night, the club closed at midnight…This day has seriously been the Twilight Zone reincarnated.
We finally headed back to the place we were sleeping on another double decker bus that was entirely empty on the top level. Evidently, this was a perfect opportunity to take stupid photos.
When my head hit the pillow, I was out for good.
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