We started today the same as yesterday, with the exception of waking up early because it was about 85 degrees in our room by 8am. The sun came out early this morning, and the large wall of windows let all of the heat into our room. We got ready fast and went to Tesco to grab some breakfast to take to Paddington Park. We saw some large magpies this morning, so that was kind of fun. I had never seen what they looked like before. Kind of like crows, but with some white on their wings and shoulders. Here is the park's flower garden:
Instead of coffee this morning, Logan had the drink shown below. In case you can't read the small writing, it's a chocolate fudge brownie drink, kind of like chocolate milk. Mmm- the breakfast of champions, huh? I like how they feel the need to caution on the label that it "doesn't contain real brownies."
After breakfast we took the tube to the Notting Hill neighborhood to browse around the Portobello Road market. Here's a teeny-tiny car we saw on the way there. It makes the Mini Cooper look huge!
When I read about Portobello Road market in the London guidebooks, I was excited to go. I always love flea markets, and this market is featured prominently in the old Disney movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." The market today was very similar to what was shown in the movie, even though it was made probably 40 years ago. There were even guys playing steel drums! I think one of the signs said that the market is the oldest continuous outdoor flea market in London. Here's one of the street signs:
After walking around for a few minutes, it became clear that this wasn't going to be a nice relaxed stroll through the market. It was very crowded (with lots of tour groups who moved like herds of cattle) and very hot. Here's a photo Logan took of the crowd- and this was not the most crowded area:
After grabbing a snack, we headed back to our hotel. The heat was too much for us, especially since we've been walking all day for the past two days and since, when it's hot above-ground, the underground is stiflingly hot. I finally remembered to take a photo of the Sherlock Holmes statue outside the tube station entrance:
Our afternoon was spent trying to keep cool. I wrote postcards and checked e-mail while Logan read and napped. Then we showered and left for some shopping at Marks & Spencer, which is a big department store. We didn't find anything we wanted, and when we went outside to walk back to the hotel we found that it was pouring. In hindsight, I should have gone back inside and bought an umbrella for us. But we thought, "it'll let up soon- we'll just get a little wet." No, it poured the entire 15 minute walk back to our room. When we got back we peeled off our soggy clothes, put on dry ones, and waited for the rain to stop so we could figure out where to go for dinner. We ended up taking the tube to Piccadilly Circus, which is a very touristy area with lots of restaurants and theatres. It was okay, but not a lot of good food to choose from, and lots of people out smoking on the sidewalks. We ended up finally choosing to eat at The Spaghetti House, which has been run by an Italian family in London for the past 5o years. It was actually really good. Here's what it looked like:
After dinner we were ready to come home and relax. Logan took this last shot of Piccadilly's main square. We're always intrigued by the stark contrast between old buildings and new technology in big cities:
Tomorrow morning we're heading to the Waterloo Train station to travel down to the southeast coast of England to visit our friend Joanna in Portsmouth. Then on Monday afternoon we'll come back to London so we can take the Eurostar train across the channel to Paris. Should be exciting!
Instead of coffee this morning, Logan had the drink shown below. In case you can't read the small writing, it's a chocolate fudge brownie drink, kind of like chocolate milk. Mmm- the breakfast of champions, huh? I like how they feel the need to caution on the label that it "doesn't contain real brownies."
After breakfast we took the tube to the Notting Hill neighborhood to browse around the Portobello Road market. Here's a teeny-tiny car we saw on the way there. It makes the Mini Cooper look huge!
When I read about Portobello Road market in the London guidebooks, I was excited to go. I always love flea markets, and this market is featured prominently in the old Disney movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." The market today was very similar to what was shown in the movie, even though it was made probably 40 years ago. There were even guys playing steel drums! I think one of the signs said that the market is the oldest continuous outdoor flea market in London. Here's one of the street signs:
After walking around for a few minutes, it became clear that this wasn't going to be a nice relaxed stroll through the market. It was very crowded (with lots of tour groups who moved like herds of cattle) and very hot. Here's a photo Logan took of the crowd- and this was not the most crowded area:
After grabbing a snack, we headed back to our hotel. The heat was too much for us, especially since we've been walking all day for the past two days and since, when it's hot above-ground, the underground is stiflingly hot. I finally remembered to take a photo of the Sherlock Holmes statue outside the tube station entrance:
Our afternoon was spent trying to keep cool. I wrote postcards and checked e-mail while Logan read and napped. Then we showered and left for some shopping at Marks & Spencer, which is a big department store. We didn't find anything we wanted, and when we went outside to walk back to the hotel we found that it was pouring. In hindsight, I should have gone back inside and bought an umbrella for us. But we thought, "it'll let up soon- we'll just get a little wet." No, it poured the entire 15 minute walk back to our room. When we got back we peeled off our soggy clothes, put on dry ones, and waited for the rain to stop so we could figure out where to go for dinner. We ended up taking the tube to Piccadilly Circus, which is a very touristy area with lots of restaurants and theatres. It was okay, but not a lot of good food to choose from, and lots of people out smoking on the sidewalks. We ended up finally choosing to eat at The Spaghetti House, which has been run by an Italian family in London for the past 5o years. It was actually really good. Here's what it looked like:
After dinner we were ready to come home and relax. Logan took this last shot of Piccadilly's main square. We're always intrigued by the stark contrast between old buildings and new technology in big cities:
Tomorrow morning we're heading to the Waterloo Train station to travel down to the southeast coast of England to visit our friend Joanna in Portsmouth. Then on Monday afternoon we'll come back to London so we can take the Eurostar train across the channel to Paris. Should be exciting!
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