Weekend and Wellies

I've had a lot more free time this past week, what with only working 1 shift, so I've been able to spend a lot more time in London!

Over the weekend I took my new housemate Tamryn to Portobello Road Market. As I'd already been there, I decided to bring the camera rather than the purse, since I don't always find things to buy there. Plus it was just a lovely day, and I can't pass up the opportunity to take pictures when the sky is so blue.

Tamryn had popped into a shop and left me outside to stare aimlessly at the little hotel across the street. It was quite lovely.
This little blue plaque was stuck on the wall on one of the adorable pastel houses along Portobello Road, yet I'd never seen it before. Usually I don't recognize the names on these places, they are all Duke of something or Lady whatever, but this time I knew who he is!
I just love the colors of these houses. So fresh.
You can tell its England - all these signs for beer! Heh.
After Portobello Road Market, we went to Westfield Shopping Centre, which is a huge fancy shopping mall in West London. We shopped and ate some fancy food, but I didn't snap any photos - frankly its not that exciting.

Sunday was a lazy day, I cleaned and loitered around. I had lunch at a pub with my housemate Andrew and his friend Lindy. After that I went for a walk through the park, where the sun was just starting to set.
We tried to feed the ducks, but I think their bellies were already full. They pretty much ignored us.
I spend most of Monday wandering through London. I started at my usual spot at Westminster Abbey, where I could't resist snapping yet another photo of Big Ben. I'm trying to mix it up, I swear!
After Westminster I made my way through Hyde Park, where the trees are just beginning to flower. It smells wonderful.
After that the sun started to set, so I made my way back home. I love all these flowering trees, though. I wish the trees flowered back home. Everything just smells lovely here.

Today was a lazy/cleaning day. I cleaned the kitchen and my room, and did a bit of laundry. Tomorrow I might head out for a bit, or I might kick around here and tidy some more. The possibilities are endless...

Next week I work at least 2 days, after that I'm done at HMV. I'm hoping to get out of the city once or twice especially while the weather is great. Not too hot, not too cold. Although I do need to find some wellies first. Who would've thought it'd be so damn hard?!

My Weekend

Hello! This weekend was my first full weekend of sightseeing/shopping. I took some pictures over the weekend, although not a whole lot, but here you go!
I started out Saturday morning at Portobello Road Market. I was hoping to peruse the artsy stalls up north and maybe see if I could buy more antique jars, but I didn't have any luck in either department. I found the whole market very overcrowded and touristy, so I gave up. It got very busy at about noon when I was leaving, so I snapped some pictures and got the hell out of there!
From Portobello Road I hoped a bus to Camden Market, where the boots were midly less busy and things were a little more 'my taste'. I wandered around for a good 2-3 hours, and bought a nice little bag. (I could've bought waaaay more, but resisted!).
I also enjoyed my £4 bowl of pick-and-mix Chinese food (they have the best food at this market!) and wandered around some more.
After Camden Market I hopped a bus with the full intention of riding it to Big Ben and continuing on to the Tate Britain, but as we passed Trafalgar Square I noticed some activity, and hopped off.

Turns out they were having some kind of protest relating to Gaza. I'm still not entirely sure what was going on - I didn't stick around too long. I got tired of people trying to hand me signs and flyers and such.
Although I don't think I've ever seen so many policeman at Trafalgar Square before.

From there I started walking to Big Ben through the gardens of Buckingham Palace.
And snapping some more touristy shots of Big Ben and the phone booth...

I actually ended up walking past Westminster Abbey and went inside to listen to their Evensong Performance. It was lovely, and the views inside the cathedral were plenty. There are great accousics, too - as you would probably imagine. It was a nice way to see the cathedral with *ahem* having to pay for it.

Sunday morning I had every intention of heading down to Harrod's to see what kind of sales they had going on, but when I got to Knightsbridge at 10:30 a.m., I realized that they didn't open for another hour and moved on. I walked through the neighborhood, taking some lovely pictures!
And no... I can't remember the name of the church that was behind this little arch. Sorry!

There was some lovely little streets tucked away here, too. Although I'm pretty sure I can't afford them.

From here I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Natural History Museum as well as the Science Museum. They were very crowded (being a weekend and all), but enjoyable none the less.

I did end up going back to Harrod's to see what the sales were like. I guess the sales were good - they had a lot of designer stuff that had been market down half price... but a £1300 bag marked down to £400 is still a £400 bag. And an ugly one at that. I gave up soon after that.
Rather than continue to shop, I decided I'd take a walk through Hyde Park before heading home. It was a lovely time of day to snap photos, and the birds were a-plenty.


My last stop was just outside the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. It was starting to get cold and dark and as such, I hoped the tube and came home!

Today is going to be a pretty low-key day. I think I'll head over to the library later and return my books. I might go grocery stopping, although I might just do that tomorrow, too. Wednesday the Gas Man is comming to replace our boiler, and as such he'll be here all day Wednesday and part of Thursday, too. Wednesday I'll probably spend cleaning like a maniac. Not sure about the rest of the week - I know the London Walks company is doing a couple day trips, so that's something to think about. I guess it all depends on the weather.
Either way, hope you enjoyed!

Out and About in the Neighborhood

On my first actual day of exploring, I wandered around the neighborhood a little bit, then wandered over to Portobello Road market to buy some scarves!
This is the road that my hotel is on. Belgrave Road in Pimlico. It's a lovely area and it's very full of hotels. All the houses look the same but it sure is lovely. It was a very foggy morning if you haven't already noticed.
This is the Saint Saviour Church Pimlico. It was just down the street from my hotel. I didn't go inside, and I'm not quite sure what the "Gifts" sign is for? St. Saviour was built in 1865. Nice look door, eh? I like the vines crawling up the wall. Rather than hopping the tube directly to Portobello Road, I decided to explore a bit. I ended up on the Thames Path walking towards Westminster Abbey. The foggy area to the right is the Thames, but it's so foggy you can't really tell. This is the Buxton Memorial. It was erected to commemorate the emancipation of slaves following the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. It was originally located in Parliament Square, but later removed and placed in Victoria Tower Gardens in 1957 to mark the 150th Anniversary of the 1807 Act that abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And yes, I copied that off the website. I'm not THAT knowledgeable about random statues. And yes, those are the Parliament buildings in the back. Still foggy.... Can't tell you who these dudes are. Didn't pay enough attention to the statue, but thought that it looked cool with the tower in the background. Here is Big Ben peeking over some of the buildings behind Westminster Abbey.
This was some maybe-graffiti on a building on the way to Portobello Road. There wasn't anything else around it (stores, etc), so not quite sure what the purpose was, but I found it neat anyways.
Here is the view looking down the Portobello Road street market. I love how all the houses are different colors! Now I'm not sure I would want to live here, might bother me with all the constant noise, but might be fun for a while. Either way I do enjoy the market!

I didn't get to the market until late morning, so by then it was getting crowded. It's much more fun when you get there first thing in the morning, it feels like a more authentic experience. But, I was just going to get some scarves, so it didn't matter to me.

I'll be posting pictures of my long, foot-crippling walk next!