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Our last day.....what to choose? We decided to go to the British Museum, always open free to the public which is so great. It was obvious that locals take advantage of the offer as we saw many groups of school children dressed in their uniforms and following behind the teacher in charge. Some looked bored to death and others facinated by the sights. So cute.
The British Museum was fantastic with a very large variety of all inclusive displays such as Life and death in Pompeii and The art of influence: Asian Propaganda. We rented an audio tour which was so helpful and enjoyably narrated; it made all the difference. We lunched on the top floor where there is a delightful terrace overlooking the interior of the museum.
Another ride on the Tube and we were back at our hotel where we gathered up our things and prepared for the next morning's departure back to Santa Barbara. It's difficult to have an early evening in London (Ireland too) as the days are sooo long. It doesn't get dark until ten o'clock so eating out late becomes the norm. On this night however we needed to watch the clock due to our planned early departure. So we walked down the street in Angel where we had been staying for something local and much to our surprise we found a whole neighborhood of shops and restaurants reminiscent of Eric's old neighborhood in Brooklyn! There were restaurants of every nationality....Indian, Thai, Mexican, Lebonese...it was a melting pot of international cuisine. We ate dinner at Wahaca Islington which captured our attention by its design of contemporary Spanish mixed with more classic features. This restaurant serves "award winning Mexican street food" and won the 2012 and 2013 Sustainable Restaurant Food Group and the Winner Best Cheap Eat for 2013 (we knew David would be proud of us for this choice as he does sustainable projects and will be working on the design for the new Market Place in SB). Wahaca features Spanish tapas with homemade ingredients to be shared and enjoyed at a liesurely pace. It was the perfect spot for our last night bridging features of the UK with the hispanic specialties we enjoy in Santa Barbara.
Fnishing our mojitos, taquitos and mini pork tacos we strolled back to our hotel, people watching along the way. It was another muted but beautiful sunset with a slight warm breeze. It seemed like we were looking at neighbors hanging out together and clearly relishing the evening. Our trip had started out with unseasonably warm weather, turned more typical in the middle and was ending warm. We had come full circle. It reminded me of the Irish Blessing that my parents had hanging for many years in different places in their homes...
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun forever shine warmly on your face,
And rains fall softly upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
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