July 8-10

Resting on our
night walk

JT and I have just been trying to relax, for the most part, since getting back from our trip. Nothing too exciting has been happening, but we've been trying to keep busy. I've been running everyday, to get back in the game. We wanted to take a day trip somewhere, but the tickets were so expensive, so we decided we could just figure out things to do in London. On Friday we stayed in, but went for a long walk at night (gotta get those steps in). On Saturday we WALKED to the Portobello Road Market. It took us about 2 hours to get 6 miles, but it was well worth the struggle. It's a really interesting, open market, and we were given free falafels! We took the tube back though, then I ate a lot, because I earned it.

I went to church, and I can honestly say I enjoy being read to by someone with a British accent. The priest is from Portugal, I'm assuming due to his accent and the mass held in Portuguese at 4 pm, so he was a little difficult to understand. It's so weird to me that this entire hour event can occur in different countries and languages and still be exactly the same. Like Spain, everyone rushes to the front to get communion, but here at least a line was formed. The priest stands behind a little gate thing, and they kneel in a line in front of the gate/wall. He walks back and forth giving communion, while the server holds a tray underneath him (can't let even a single crumb fall). Then as people receive communion, they get up and another person takes their place. This could be where the cultural, 'Americans are always in a hurry,' aspect comes in, but I honestly felt like there was a more efficient way to complete this task. Besides that it was nice to understand what was being said, but I still found myself resulting back to Spanish for a few phrases. For example, when saying the creed, "from light to light," in Spanish is "de luz en luz," and it's one of things I could pick on to know where we were at. It's all just so interesting!

On Sunday we walked to Borough Market, which was closed, but some stands were open to celebrate Bastille Day. I guess 60% of the London population have a french background, so they had a celebration for it. On the way we watched some of the Wimbledon Championships, outside of a restaurant that was screening it. Andy Murray was the favorite here, obviously. Then, of course, we walked back. My legs are going to look amazing when I get home.