London!

I’m back! I had a lovely time in London. I flew out Friday night and landed Saturday morning bright and early (6 am). By the time I got my hotel straightened out (the one I booked had a broken boiler and relocated everyone to a neighboring sister hotel) and unpacked, it was 10 in the morning before I headed off for a great first day. I went over to the Portobello Road market which has a big antique/food market Saturday mornings. It was just what I needed after a red-eye flight, perusing the stalls of all the merchants and popping into the touristy shops along the street. I munched on a Bath bun as I walked down the street and even stumbled upon an Oxfam store and found the a copy of a Peter Robinson mystery (I stumbled upon him at an Oxfam in Scotland and haven’t been able to find him state side). BTW, Oxfam is just a used bookstore where proceeds go to a good cause.

After tiring of the market and crowds I took a break and toured the side streets of Notting Hill. Tons of cute boutique stores (home goods and clothes). All out of my price range, except one, which was having a huge clothes sale. I ended up getting a few cute pieces of clothes - one was even a sample - one of a kind. All made by this local up and coming London designer. I finished the visit off with a Chorizo sandwich from one of the stalls for lunch - such fresh ingredients - delic! I made my rounds of picking up the things I wanted to buy and at the end popped back into the House of Scotland store to deliberate over a wool blanket on sale. Decided in the end to resist temptation and as I was leaving, I ran into this elderly couple who had been one row ahead of me on the plane that morning. What are the odds of running into them at this one store. Had to say hi.

On my leisure walk back to the hotel I stumbled upon my first street map (it’s just past the red phone booth in the picture). These things are awesome - they’re all over London and made it a breeze to walk around town without a map. I hadn’t had much time to plan my trip since I didn’t really know if I was going and was short on time the week before.

Back to the hotel where I was in desperate need of a nap. And then in the evening I made my way to a London play, London Wall, via Leicester Square, which was a great way to close out the day.

Sunday and Monday was a nice mix of sightseeing, shopping and exploring the city. Great weather the whole time. Tuesday and Wednesday was me at work pretty much all day and then flew back home Thursday. All in all a great trip.

On the downside, my camera battery died on Monday and I had packed a million chords but not one for the camera. I had to use my blackberry phone camera which wasn’t great but better than nothing. I’m transferring the pictures right now, so figured I’d post a few.

I was able to stay at his marvelous recently restored hotel for the second half of the trip. Not only was it gorgeous, I was able to enjoy fabulous breakfasts. It was a great buffet spread and for the first course I would have waffles with real maple syrup! And fresh fruit.

And for the second course I would have some fresh bread and butter and cold meats and cheeses.

I love europe for it's great fresh food, grand and historic architecture, super nice people and the ability to stumble around town without a plan, map or very much money.  What a great trip!