Walking in water in London

Saturday

HUGE DAY, ABSOLUTELY HUGE!!!

Thank goodness Natalia slept in and then took time out to cook breakfast and dry her hair this morning because if we’d have left any earlier I don’t think my feet would have lasted the distance.

Portobello Rd Markets

First stop was Notting Hill and a wander from the tube station down Portobello Road with me oooohing and aaaaahing all the way.  I have never seen so many vintage cameras in one place; and the number of old printer’s trays and blocks was mind-blowing.  A random observation to some, but for the scrapbookers/art journalists out there. finding a stash of old printer trays and blocks would be awesome – if you could fit some in your luggage that is. Me, I had to be content with photos. You name it in the world of vintage and I’m sure you’d find it there, all sorts of silver and china, watches and furs – bloody brilliant.

Printer trays and blocks

Natalia’s younger brother, Ricky, joined us when we left there and caught the bus back to central London to wear my feet down to the bone. I felt very ignorant again when I was surprised by just how many apartment blocks I saw and then realised that London’s population is about a third that of the whole of Australia – midn-blowing. I  don’t think I’ve seen a house yet, they are all terrace houses or apartments and they just go for blocks and blocks, all the same.

I didn’t appreciate how lucky we were with the weather at the markets because by the time we reached the city it was really miserable, drizzle and rain for the rest of the day.  They say only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, I think Englishmen would go out in any weather at all. It’s amazing to me, being from such a temperate climate, that so many people go out – for fun – in such terrible weather. But like Natalia said, if they wait for a nice day, they may never go out!!

Anyhow, we did a massive walking tour of places on the Monopoly board; Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and the theatre district – where I’m sure you could see a new show every week,  as well as Oxford St  and Soho. It would have been much nicer if it hadn’t rained the whole time but I enjoyed it massively, even though we did duck into the Portrait Gallery for 10 minutes just to get out of the rain for a while.

It’s quite unbelievable for someone who lives in a town where there’s a choice of 4 pubs and a chinese restaurant to choose from that when we decided to have an early dinner we backtracked and zigzagged back about 15 blocks – and passed about a hundred places to eat – to go to a particular Italian place called Princi Pizza. I didn’t want to upset Natalia and Ricky because they were trying so hard to show me their adopted city, but honestly, by that time I would have been happy to not even eat if I could just stop walking. Mind you, Princi Pizza had great food and an atmosphere well worth walking for and by the time we finished dinner my poor old feet had recovered enough to make it home.

Sorry guys, I am having trouble with my internet and finishing this at an internet café so can’t upload more pics but will put some up when I get it sorted.

Cheers