London

I've been away from the computer for a few days because we've been in London for a family vacation. As I said to the boys (my little computer freaks), sometimes it's good to have a little break! We had a fabulous time (and were very lucky with the weather). Here are some impressions from our trip:

Tame squirrels near Buckingham Palace (a man was hand feeding them peanuts)....

Raging battles between men and mythic creatures in the incredible British Museum (this one reminds me of my kids fighting each other except they usually have some clothes on)...

Go fly a kite in Greenwich (these are the kites Katy gave the boys for Christmas, we brought them with us to take advantage of the wide open spaces in London!)...

And yes, London by night!

We had a great time...I was a bit nervous about how I was going to do eating vegan while on vacation, but it actually worked out quite well (except for the "English breakfast" at the hotel, but luckily I had brought some powdered soy milk with me and could have toast, cereal and tea). Most London cafés and restaurants offer vegetarian options, and most can be easily veganzied. At the sandwich shop at the British Musuem they even had a hummus, red pepper and raddichio sandwich as an option!

Thanks to Christina and Wim's recommendation, we also discovered the Turkish restaurant 'Tas Pide' near the Tate Modern which is a vegan's ultimate dream restaurant - yum! Hummus and lots of vegan choices with beans, eggplant, potatoes and other veggies - it was hard to pick one thing. I ended up getting a casserole with beans, veggies and potatoes. Our other main meals were:

- a pizza place near Picadilly Circus which was really good (I got the vegetarian pizza with no cheese and the waitress even asked what I would like to substitute for the cheese, so I got fresh rucola on top);

- a delicious Italian restaurant in Covent Garden near the theatre where we were going to see the Lord of the Rings musical that evening, where I had a veggie pasta dish with a side of sauteed fresh spinach which was gorgeous;

- and finally my oldest son absolutely wanted to go to "Ultimate Burger" (also near Picadilly) but he was kind enough to point out that there were three different veggie options on the menu, an eggplant burger, a portobello mushroom and onion ring burger and a soy burger. I opted for the portobello mushroom, which was very good, but a bit heavy on my stomach (it was rather greasy).

So it's back to real life now...I ended up not getting any running in while away (I had hoped to do a short run in Hyde Park, which was near our hotel, but we were so busy, it never happened) and even though we did do tons of walking, plus that big hike up to the top of Greenwich park to see the meridian (remember how steep that hill was, Mom?), we all know that walking is just not the same as running, is it? So it was a 40 minute run around the neighborhood (with hills!) this morning, which took 42 minutes - and actually felt quite good!