wistful waffles, windy walks, and london lights

Yesterday we woke up to our last morning in Bruges and hit the grocery store a few blocks away for some travel food and unnecessary impulse buys. For me that meant a falafel wrap for the train and 2 bottles of fruity beer along with packaged chocolate-dipped waffles (from a whole shelf of waffles!) to throw into my bag full of chocolate pralines. We were going to take our time and catch a bus to the train station but our grocery trip went long and there was a taxi that just happened to be outside of our hotel so that solved that.

Somehow we nearly missed our train to Brussels and had to run up a broken escalator carrying our suitcases but made it on just in time. It was an easy and comfortable hour-long trip, with the added benefit of daylight to see a bit of the countryside as well as the city of Ghent. Then a stop in Brussels and a relaxing ride through the Chunnel followed by two surprisingly uncrowded tube rides home. And finally a drizzly walk home.

We were all genuinely happy to get back home and after unpacking we went out for burgers (good ones, with good fries!) on the high road. Full and happy, we returned to our cozy living room to drink tea, eat chocolates, and watch all of the SNL clips Belgium blocked from us. Then everyone went to bed and left me to the guilty pleasure of a Netflix Christmas movie.

Today was another windy day but it was enough to blow the clouds away and give us a few hours of bright sunshine, so we headed to check out an area I hadn’t been to before: Battersea Power Station. It’s so different than all of the charming, historic areas of London that I love: this is a super modern new area based around this former power station turned shopping mall and tons of new residential buildings.

Outside there was all of the requisite holiday stuff: stalls selling food, an ice skating rink, even a super tall slide that Ben went down. We wandered through the mall looking at shiny things and Legos and I purchased a sparkly pair of Christmas tree earrings. As we stepped outside to head back home it had gotten so much windier and cold that we decided to catch the bus rather than walk back to the tube station, from which we got a gorgeous view of the Thames at sunset.

Once home I quickly changed to head back out to meet Vida for dinner at a great place called Lupins. I don’t seek out “interesting” food in London that often because I’m so happy with casual cuisine here, but it was nice to go somewhere with many things I didn’t recognize on the menu and get small shared plates. There were Jerusalem artichokes and some kind of ham with cabbage and delicious cheese fritters.

We had picked this location and date because the final Burning Pub of the year was set to start nearby shortly after, so once we had finished dinner we headed towards The Miller pub. Of course I needed to bring something sugary so we stopped into a Tesco Express where Vida convinced me to get the biggest box of Krispy Kremes because I’d be “buying friends.” She knows me too well.

Unfortunately Burning Pub was kind of a disappointment: our normal private room had been given to a rowdy group of karaoke singers so we were stuck in the main room of the pub which was very crowded and loud. There were only a couple of people that Vida and I knew, and the overall group was small at probably under twenty in total. Neither of us were in the mood to try to chat up new people in the chaotic space, so after giving away a few Krispy Kremes I grabbed the box to take home to deliver the leftovers to James.

It was so quiet and still and beautiful as Vida and I walked to the London Bridge tube station just at the base of the brightly candy-cane topped Shard. We hugged goodbye and bemoaned the fact that it will be two weeks before we see each other again. But I was slightly cheered to find someone carrying a large stuffed banana as I waited for my train.

The boys were happily surprised that I was home early and able to see them before bedtime, and James was especially chuffed to get a mostly-full box of donuts. Now I’m enjoying a few moments of quiet as I keep hitting the refresh button on flight tracking for my dad and sister’s plane to London, less than 12 hours til they’re here!