The day started off with an unfortunate time warp. Not the cool, Steven Hawking type thing where you're left perplexed about our limited understanding of the complexities of space-time. No, this was of the "pick up your phone first thing in the morning and jump forward 2 hours in time" variety. After finally convincing myself that lying in bed for even longer would not initiate a temporal pincer, I decided to commit my Sunday to the usual chores: laundry, cleaning, cooking.
After realizing that those three activities do not consume an entire day's worth of time, I resolved to bike up to a new park to read a little bit before stopping by a food truck recommended to me. Cue some weird Willy Wonka music...
As I lay on the grass, ready to crack open my book, I look up to see two men decked out in gear swordfighting. Yes, swordfighting. Now mind you there was more hard foam than metal but nevertheless, these gallant heroes were pirouetting, parrying, and hacking away at one another, from time-to-time "losing a limb" or suffering a noble defeat. Not your average park day.
After taking in the parkland version of Medieval Times for 30 minutes, I decided that I would bike around the rest of the park before finding somewhere a little less distracting to read. I bike past what looked to be a road hockey rink with what looked to be golf clubs in the fence and am suddenly asked, "Hey! What to come take a couple swings?" Not wanting to miss an opportunity to join the local Swingers Community, I inquire further. It turns out that I had walked into the local Bike Polo league's Sunday meetup. Now call me sheltered or uncultured but this is not something I had ever heard of in my life. Badass technical cyclists with semi-armored bikes darting around a hockey rink with mallets trying to hit a hockey ball into a net. Intrigued? Very much so. Interested in participating? That's a no from me dog.
After chatting with the local LARPing (as I came to know the swordfighters were called) and bike polo community, I decided to continue on to my original destination for some simple Italian food. Getting there and taking one look at the menu, fate called out to me in the clearest of voices, "Order the eggplant olive oil cake." And so, naturally I ordered what could be the weirdest idea for a dessert cake I had ever heard. Review? 10/10. While I don't know the next time I will run into caramelized eggplant topped with a rich olive oil whipped cream, I do know that I will certainly not pass it up!
Satisfied with the novelties of the day and needing to pace myself through this eccentric dessert, I finally get back to my book, forlorn amidst all the excitement. I'm sitting on a patio, wondering what strange plotline Murakami is spinning with single-horned beasts in modern day Tokyo. And right beside me on this restaurant patio sits a cute couple with an old little lapdog, an even older poodle thing, and a horned creature the size of a great dane. This couple had brought their pet goat to the restaurant. Their pet goat! After inquiring, I learned that this was the only one of their four goats that was well-behaved enough to come out for dinner tonight... Because of course it is.
While the day is not done yet, I can certainly say that this was more than I bargained for in the best way possible. Sometimes I find it incredibly lonely to travel around alone and question whether I've made a grave mistake. And then I have days like today which remind me of the beauty of going out into the world alone, with no expectations, and an open mind. May Sundays always be so serendipitious.