More London

May 2nd
We slept in this morning and took our time heading out the door. No matter how tired you are from running around the day before, those hostel beds keep you tossing all night. We started off the day at Regence Park hoping to see the amazing queen's roses Marissa told us about. Unfortunately they were not yet in bloom, but the other flower garden's were beautiful. We walked about halfway around the park when a huge thunderclap when off and the skies opened up. I have never been in such a downpour. We decided we would get soaked if we tried to walk, so we just huddled under our umbrella and waited for it to pass. Despite getting wet, it was one of my most memorable moments of the trip. The garden was so beautiful and green, it was like it was drinking the water in and getting greener by the minute.
After the storm, we walked to the British Museum (a much longer walk then we planned) to finish seeing what we missed the first day. Tim was so excited by how old everything was. He also couldn't get over the fact that the British had essentially stolen the entire Greek Parthenon and set it up in the museum. It was really amazing all the things they had and it was so cool for me to see artifacts from the cultures and societies I had studied for so long. I really liked the Assyrian art, especially the lion hunt of Ashurbanipal. I think Tim like the Greek and the Egyptian stuff the most, but how can you choose a favorite?
After spending almost all afternoon at the museum, we headed to Victoria Station to buy tickets for Wicked that night. Then, with a lot of time to burn before the show, we set off to eat a nice meal for the first time on our trip. After walking down about every street in the area looking for a good place with a reasonable price, we found a cute little Italian restaurant right next to the theater. Food never tasted so good. We both loved our meal and were full for probably the first time so far in the trip. To save money, we had been loading up on the free breakfast of toast and croissants. We would steal a few extra pieces of bread and put peanut butter on them for lunch. And then for dinner we would share a plate of chips (fries) and starve to death. Not a good strategy for the pregnant lady, but this Italian meal convinced us to loosen up and eat real food.
After dinner, we headed to Wicked. The theater was awesome and had been totally outfitted for the show. Everything was green. The set was absolutely amazing and the actors stunning. It was kinda weird that they had British accents, but I guess that made sense since we were in England. Even though I had heard all the song a million times, it was so good to see how they came together. The plot was a lot different than I expected and I really liked the message of friendship and sacrifice. I think Tim liked it a lot too. I may have me a musical convert!