Portobello Market

The smells of garlic, fresh fruit and french perfume mingle in the air. Whimsical pastels and blaring primaries jump from the facades of houses and shops...

Hold on to your purses! Guard your pockets! 

There are so many people that I can hardly breath. Thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic - yet. The crowd moves slowly as the throngs of shoppers vie for a glimpse of the treasures adorning each stall. 

"Streets where the riches of ages are sold"? I'd say maybe just the junk of a few decades! Well, maybe I'm just a little sick and crabby and tired and not giving Portobello Market its dues. The secret to shopping here must be to be a Portobello Market vet, or to come REALLY REALLY early! You can tell the seasoned buyers because they're all rolling suitcases down the middle of the street making a v-line to their favorite stands while the newbies stare, deer eyed and paralyzed, at the copious amounts of junk spewing and oozing from every orifice along the road. 

I follow the crowd into The Good Fairy antiques market where the constant, uncontrollable current of movement pushes me towards a number of stalls stacked high with old leather bound used books. With great difficulty, I managed to dislodge myself from the stream of voyeurs so that I could pursue these treasures more closely. I sorted through old copies of Alice Through the Looking Glass, Robinson Crusoe and The Complete Works of Charles Dickens and briefly wondered how one might come about acquiring the collection of Jane Austen works that lay at the bottom of a particularly teetering tower before thrusting myself, empty handed, back into the flowing body of arms, legs and torsos.

Rather by force of crowd than by personal choice, I wander through the rest of the horse-shoe shaped Good Fairy market catching brief glimpses of bakelite jewelry, china tea sets, porcelain figurines, silver flat ware and other doodads. I pray that there will not be a fire.

Finally, I am spit out back onto the main market street and breathe a sigh of relief. I float in the slow moving, crowded, gently pushing mass of human bodies catching peeks of stalls filled with glimmering Indian saris, row after row of leather goods, silver wares of all types: dangling necklaces, glinting flat ware, sparkling tea sets, vintage prints, funky London fashions, pungent spices, cheeses, and meats simmering in vats of oozing brown mush, crepe shops, waffle stands... This goes on for almost a mile and a half until my week, sick legs begin to grow weary of the walk, and my empty stomach begins to rumble. At this point I turn around to retrace my steps keeping an eye out for a bite to eat and a place to sit. 

I eventually find myself on a side street at a bustling cafe - Charlie's Portobello Road Cafe - where the food was slightly mediocre and tasteless, but I met my new best friend from Zurich! A story for another time.

Cheerio!

With love from London. 

Other Sights from my Portobello Road Adventure:

Brightly Painted Terraced Houses

The Crowd

The Travel Bookshop from the Movie Notting Hill. 

George Orwell's House

Fantastical Fanciful Fantasy

One of the things that I love about this city is the volume of wondrous characters  - both cinematic and literary - associated with London and nearby areas.

My morning walk to class bears striking resemblance to Cherry Tree Lane, and I can almost imagine Admiral Boom shouting from a rooftop preparing for one of his twice-daily cannon firings or even Mary Poppins herself floating down from a particularly fluffy overhanging cloud. When I hear Big Ben toll the quarter hour, I am reminded of the view that stretched below Peter Pan and Wendy as they flew off to Neverland. In Oxford, there is a Pub that claims to have been the weekly meeting place of J.R.R. Tolken, C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll. If only to have been a fly on that wall! Not far down the road, as if from nowhere, a lone hill towers above the sidewalk: surely, the perfect home for a Hobbit! Arriving in Canary Warf, I spotted the premier meeting place of one Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. In Bath, I walked in streets where Jane Austen once paced while pondering the plot of her latest work.

The inspiration behind so much of my literary life lies just under the surface of everyday London. It's as if I can feel the constant flow of energy from the immortal world of books pulsing almost at my finger tips, our auras almost touching, the energy of an alternate universe constantly flowing just beyond everyday reach. What an opportunity for a book lover!

In Kensington Gardens, I found Peter Pan.

In Oxford, I found a Hobbit Hole... 

... And the Oxford College, called Christ Church, that inspired the Great Hall in Harry Potter

In Bath, I found the world of Pride and Prejudice

Conundrums

Just had my interview for my internship with Dow Jones. It went really well. I will be working with Dow Jones Risk and Compliance to help them research State Owned Companies in order to provide information to their clients to help the clients spot fraud and risk in businesses they may be working with.

While this all sounds really interesting (assuming you can digest all of those nouns and pronouns to figure out just what it could all possibly mean), and I can't believe they are going to let me - the clueless psychology major - meddle in all of it, what I really find amazing is the scenery I pass on the way: a piece of the original wall from the original settlement by the Romans from 55 BC, a part of the foundation of a building from the same settlement, the Tower of London itself!

How amazing to be going about daily life in a city so rich with history. It is mind boggling, yet also numbing at the same time. Everyday activities are so inundated with history and the past, but you just have to go on with your day. You can't stop and ogle the stones that are centuries old or the perfectly carved monuments dripping with gold leaf because you're late for class, because you've seen it 100 times before, because it will be there tomorrow. What a conundrum! This city is full of this fascinating mixture between new and really really really old, and I find it so interesting the way it is just part of every day life. Furthermore, this attitude of normalcy amidst the extrodineary is reflected in the lives and attitudes of the people who live here. You can even see it in their attitude toward the Queen. While I am overwhelmed and amazed by the symbolism and historical significance that she represents, the English are quite blaze about the whole Queen thing. They go about their day as if they did not have an ancient relic living and breathing in one of her equally ancient castles place strategically around the country!

But then again, she was there yesterday, she'll be there tomorrow - G_d willing - so I suppose you can't get all fussed about the whole thing...

but how can you not!

Things I Never Thought I'd Miss

... Especially after only two weeks!

1. Crosswalks that let you go directly across the street

instead of these funny fence things that coral you one way and then the other (I'll try to remember to photograph one because my words are incompetent)

2. The grid system!

I have gotten lost running too many times to count because in any other city the streets are, logically, parallel to one another, but not here. They are deceivingly diagonal and curvy and spit you out onto surprising dead ends!

3. ....

Short list! Maybe I'll stay a little longer :-)

Explorations #1

Oh dear. Its 12:00. I'm tired after a long weekend and not really feeling the writing thing, but I promised to keep ya'll up to date on my whereabouts, and I won't let you down! Plus, I made some pretty cool discoveries this weekend.

On Friday, with handy dandy Eyewitness Travel guide book in hand, I ventured out on a personal walking tour from Mayfair to Belgravia. I hopped on the Piccadilly line for my first solo adventure on the Tube and took it to the Greenpark stop where, upon exiting, I nearly ran right into The Ritz Carlton Hotel and a big green plywood wall leading the way to Buckingham palace. As neither were on Eyewitness' itinerary for the day, I walked on but was sure to note their proximity to The Crofton (home) in preparation for my inevitable return (especially to one particular possibly overly posh hotel).

Following Eyewitness' directions and still shaking my head over what was surely a huge mistake in passing up The Ritz and Buck House (as I have learned Buckingham is called), I walked up Berkeley street, which I soon found to be full of intriguing art galleries, toward Berkeley Square - a lovely small park with numerous attractive British men in suits on their lunch break lounging on benches and sprawling on the grass. I admired them for a while and then turned my attention to the beautiful houses that surround the park (many of which date back to the 18th century). At the very north end of the park, in one of these houses, I noticed what appeared to be a number of business lunches occurring on a lovely balcony. There was no sign or identifying feature of any sort that would indicate how one would go about dining here. Clearly it must be exclusive. Further research has revealed that I had indeed stumbled across a piece of wonderful English snobbery ( I say this lovingly ofcourse): Morton's, a private club smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk!

After gawking a bit at Morton's, which seemed so lovely yet out of place on the balcony of a beautiful Georgian home in the middle of the city, I continued around Berkeley square and onwards with my journey. Next, I came to Shepherd's Market - a beautiful, tiny maze of pedestrian only pathways hidden behind a discrete archway full of fantastically aromatic restaurants, and enticing shops and galleries. After taking a full assessment of Shepherd's Market, I decided to move on.

From here, my walk lead me down some beautiful residential streets lined with heart achingly sweet houses.

And of course a pub or two... which were bustling even at this odd hour on Friday

A ways down from the pub, there was a cluster of older, finely dressed gentlemen standing outside what was either a quaint hotel or a rather swanky residence. One of the men stopped me and asked if I was "touring." I said, "well, I'm on a walk, just wandering, if that's what you mean." He laughed at the dumb American I had proven myself to be, yet again, and asked where I was from. Long story short, after a lovely conversation of small talk and chit-chat, John revealed that he was quitting his job at this hotel or residence - I still don't know which - to become the head of the entire UK branch of the charity St Vincent de Paul. He invited me to come and help a few days a week, so I took his number down. We'll see what happens with that. 

Anyway, continuing on,  I came to yet another breathtaking park. The English certainly have a way with parks! 

I admired the park for a bit, and then continued on my way. Walking through the park, I found myself deposited on a street lined with designer shops: Christian Louboutin, March Jacob's, Balenciago ... my mouth began to water ... although maybe I was just hungry. Further on,  the walk turned rather dry. I passed more residencies, the US embassy, a statue of FDR (which I couldn't find, but apparently I passed it), and a very busy street. Before reaching my next place of interest according to Eyewitness: Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, I noticed a funny little monument. Closer examination revealed that it was a memorial to all animals who have ever served in war for the British or allied troops. Now, I'm into animal rights as much as the next gal, but this seemed a little extreme...

  

Giggling, I made my way to Hyde Park where the Speaker's Corner: a place where anyone with a soap box (literally) can stand and make a speech on any topic (I later learned that the exceptions are the current church and the monarchy) on Sundays. As it was Friday, the corner was rather subdued, so I kept going.

I got lost on the many criss-crossing, winding pathways of Hyde Park numerous times, but eventually I ended up at the Boat House as Eyewitness instructed where, contrary to their suggestion, I did not rent a rowboat to take out onto the Serpentine. Instead, as I was feeling famished, I dodged all kinds of aquatic aves and made my way toward the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen (aka Dell Cafe says Eyewitness) where I had a beautiful lunch of butternut squash soup and iced coffee.

Notice how dense the bread is. It was like savory pound cake!

Such a beautiful space. The picture doesn't really do it justice. I love the way the tables and chairs are miss matched. Not to mention the gorgeous view.

And they do clever things like keeping their condiments in cake pans. 

I'd say The Serpentine was a winner (though a little pricey)!

As I walked over a lovely old stone bridge on my way to exiting Hyde Park, there was a beautiful view, so I snapped a shot.

Then, I heard some people having a discussion that went along the lines of "I'll take your picture if you take mine," and I thought I'd get in on the action. 

They were very accommodating. 

From here, my walk was much less interesting mostly comprising of getting lost and having to double back on myself while wielding my rather large and obvious tour guide book. I passed many more stately houses that all began to look the same after a while, and soon grew tired. At this point I had been walking for 5 hours! Luckily I was able to stumble across the tube stop I needed to use to get home so go home I did. 

Some other images from my weekend:

Windsor Castle - the Queen's favorite residence

Albert Memorial

Royal Albert Hall

Tower of London and part of the old Roman wall (on left) from 55 BC

A beefeater at the Tower of London

A Raven. A colony moved in when there were so many executions. Now legend has it that if they leave, the country will fall... so there is a caretaker who clips their wings... cheating

How to be Two Places at Once

Its been non-stop since arriving at 7:30 AM on Sunday, but things are starting to slow down a tiny. Thank goodness. Now I have time to breathe again. I was starting to turn a little bit blue! Sunday was full of lots of arrival activities: walking tours, meetings, unpacking, roommate mingling and grocery shopping. Had a complete culture shock experience while trying to grocery shop. It never occurred to me that the brands would all be different or even that some of the things I'm used to eating wouldn't be available... I'm really going to crave Pita Chips by the time I make it home. Also, British grocery stores do NOT refrigerate their eggs! What's up with that? Anyway, Monday and Tuesday were full of "British 101"(as the staff calls them) lectures. I'm sure they were fascinating, but I could hardly stay awake what with the highly encouraged beer drinking excursions and my trying to adjust to the time change. Man, these English people drink a lot of beer!

Today was much more low key. We took a boat tour down the Thames and got to see some of the major sights from afar: Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge etc. At the end of the tour we were dropped off in Greenwich and told to fend for ourselves.

Well, I like to blame it on the brain lethargy created due to the previous stated reasons, but I made no connection to the possible significance of said Greenwich. It could have been as special as Greenwich, CT for all I knew. It was just another new place to explore and an adventure in London. After a mediocre lunch at a cafe my friends and I spotted (I'm still not sure about the British cooking skills), my friends got sucked into the world of shopping which I decided to skip out on. Got to soak up this sun before it goes away!

Anyway, I decided to explore even if I had to do it alone. Now, because I am not completely dense, I noticed that an awful lot of people were meandering in the same direction, so I decided to see what was up. Low and behold, I came across a lovely building: the National Maritime Museum, but behind the museum was a rolling sea of lush green grass. I've never seen a park so big! A conspicuous hill sat to the right of this park, and atop said hill was an interesting looking building which seemed to be attracting a lot of attention.

(Later on, I spoke with a docent at the Queens House - now a museum - who told me that, if I were really rich, or married a really rich man, I could get married on this beautiful lawn. Better start saving...for the rest of me life...and my children's life)

Anyway, being the follower that I am, I decided to treck up the giant hill towards this building, and when I reached the top this is what I found:

Greenwich Mean Time!

I truly had no idea that THIS was the Greenwich we were going to. Oh dear. 

And...

The Prime Meridian 

Standing in two places at once. 

All in all, a very successful day I would say. 

I'll leave you with this lovely image. 

Cheerio!