It's so crazy that this volcano thing is keeping us stuck in England. It sounds like a bad excuse, like "my dog ate my boarding pass." We checked the internet first thing this morning, and saw an email from Marti that all flights today were cancelled. It was pretty much what we'd expected, but still a bit disappointing. We had really enjoyed our trip, but towards the end of vacation you always look forward to going home! We then had to consider what we would do with our day. We're definitely not as "go getting" as at the beginning of the trip, so we started out slow, sending a bunch of emails (including one to my work telling them I might be delayed coming home), then some journaling and reading. Cole needed to get back to his studies, counting down to exams in a week, so Ben and I went out exploring.
We walked along "old-ass building road" (Ben named it just now), and checked a few menus posted outside restaurants. That's another tradition we enjoy in Europe, menus are always posted. Strangely, Ben told me he was willing to walk around until we found the right place to eat (previously this thought had made him cranky - he's matured so much as a traveler!). We found a place that served gourmet burgers and walked inside. One of the guys working there tried talking to us, and had suck a thick British accent that I didn't understand a single word. I think I was concentrating so much on understanding that I didn't just let it flow. Fortunately Ben caught on.
We asked for directions to the museum, didn't understand a word, and headed on our way. We found it fairly easily based on Cole's directions that it was on the same street as the Kings Arms (funny that our big landmarks are pubs we've visited). It was the Natural Science and Pit Rivers museum, and was such an amazing place! The building itself was huge and open, with a glass ceiling, and inside were all sorts of animals in strange groupings. I never really understood the organization of the place, but there was some great stuff to see. A few items that said "please touch," and then a sort of back room with glass cases with drums, tobacco smoking implements, shrunken heads, etc. In other words, they were organized by subject matter rather than country of origin, it was crazy and amazing.
At one point, Ben was struck with tiredness and insisted we go out to the lawn for a nap. While walking, we noticed the museum inserted giant dinosaur tracks into the earth with concrete - so creative! Ben slept on my lap while I read Harry Potter (sorry if there are a million references to those books in these blogs :)). Then we walked back inside to view a few more animals. Ben and I spent a little time deciding which of the marsupial animals we would allow to come live with us. We chose all but 2.
We headed home and then it was my turn for a nap (this blog is so riveting right?). Then we headed out for Chinese noodle bowls. Joshua Radin was playing across the street but sold out, so we walked towards home, stopping at the grocery store for fun. We learned that grocery stores here are cheap (possibly cheaper than the US), have fun British food options, and their baskets have extending handles like rolley suitcases. We picked up some treacle tart, 10p sparkling water, and clementines that turned out to be terrible. Now we're watching Community (streaming tv on the internet) again.
You know what, a boring night can be nice in real life :)
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