Day 3: Something about us

We stayed another night at the goodwood on tavistock. After a small argument, we went to the store so I could make some lunch for the long day ahead. I was ready for a great eventful day! We headed towards the waterloo station in search for the LONDON AQUARIUM! And it was a magnificent day, the sky was clear blue and we were confident about navigating through the city!

We tried doing this 2 for 1 deal that was being offered but it didn’t work out so we stuck it out with the underground, and again, thank gosh for the oyster card! It sure helps cut the wait time in the queues (lines).

After walking out of the waterloo station, we had to regain our grounds. Luckily we were loaded with our handy-dandy maps and calvin is a natural navigator. I insisted it was that way. He said, “It’s that way!” pointing in the opposite direction. “How do you know?!” I whined. “Because of the sun!” he answered confidently! Hahaha I laugh at how knowledgeable he is about the east and west. I mess that stuff up every time, relying on electronic navigation systems; however, I get lost with all those buttons. I admire people who are good at things that I’m not good at because after spending time with them, I learn immensely from them.

We walked passed these theaters and there was a fountain that I got stuck it. I’m sure it was in a movie, but it was a window-shaped fountain and some of the sections wouldn’t spray up so I walked right into the middle of it, and waddyaknow, I got stuck in the middle of a fucking fountain! It was funny and a tourist took a picture of me. Note to tourist: tag me in that on facebook please! Hahaha. We passed a bridge and saw a statue of nelson mendela. The quote underneath read: “my life is my struggle.” I agree, indeed.

We got a little bumbled again and I asked a security officer for some help. His name was Nelson (the irony of it all!). He walked us toward the London eye, and in the direction of the Aquarium. The London eye looks like a giant Ferris wheel except there are no booths that you sit in, you stand in these rooms and you can see all of London. It was enormous!!! I didn’t get on it though because I get trembly on Ferris wheels so this was a no-go. But! Before that, along the sidewalk were some street performers just like those in San Francisco. They require a little tip and they start moving and dancing! There was a wizard, a headless man, a Mickey mouse, a bicycling iguana, and a copper man with long arms.

We got into the aquarium and at first, it was dark and the fish weren’t exciing at all, but when we got to the pacific ocean zone, we were wowed. The brown sharks, and manta rays were huge! There was also a zebra shark and nurse shark that were being petted by some scuba divers searching for teeth. It is interesting watching animals enjoying the same type of attention as our domestic pets. Calvin and I caught on to the end of a feeding tour. We got to se some archer fish spit for their food. We also caught some red-tailed catfish from the Amazon eating their fruits and nuts. They also had an Arrohana that was worth a quarter million pounds which is half a million USD. The reason why they are also known as Chinese monkey fish is because they would jump out of the water and knock a monkey out of the trees, drown it, and eat it. They also had a fish that was privately owned; its owner fed it chocolate biscuits and strawberries.

After the aquarium we had a nice lunch in the sun, we walked across the waterloo bridge and saw Big Ben! It was fenced off and guarded with a man with a gun. That was the first time we saw any of the police officers armed with a gun. Quite contrary the US where every cop is armed with a gun.

After that we decided not to go to Dali Universe and we wanted to go to a sex museum. We walked forever, and stopped at the National Gallery. The admission was free so we figured why not. A great thing about London is that admission is free at certain places like museums. Our feet hurt so much! We spent a few hours looking at paintings from the 1500-1600s. There were a lot of biblical paintings, but the colors were beautiful. My favorite style was oil on poplar, and my favorite painting was The Birth of the Milky Way. I wanted to quit walking but we had a goal, Amora.

We pretty much went from one end of London to the other, on foot! It was bloody awful! I wanted to die and give up. I was tired and hungry and upset, unsatisfied. Calvin and I found it in the Trocadero, but it was closed. I wasn’t mad at all, we just took the Picadilly Circus station back to Russell’s Square so we could sleep!

And sleep we did! We slept until midnight, which is like 4 in the afternoon in the US. Calvin and I laid there, silent. He felt very lost and I listened to his breathing. We held each other, comfortable in every position we moved. “There’s Something About Us” was playing in both our heads. And I must say that there truly is, especially when we can tangle ourselves, intertwine our limbs and still find comfort in each other’s warmth. And we did this for hours, until we faded in and out of sleep, until we started talking about our insecurities, until we were hungry, until we had sex, until we got over it, until we curled together again. And that’s us. A perfect day.