A day of shopping
London is a city of open-air markets--strange for a place where it rains so much. We have had, in the last few days, the addition of some visitors from Denmark, friends of Oldest Kid. (They did not stay with us, for we'd have to put some people to sleep in our narrow hallway if they had). In any case, it was some incentive to try someting outdoors, such as the Portobello Road Market.
It's hard to say where the center of the market is. You get off at the Ladbroke Grove Tube station, and then see a sign that instructs you to follow a walkway under the Westway Flyover for 200 meters to get to the market. But as soon as you step into the walkway, the stalls begin. You keep following the walkway, seeing a lot of different interesting stuff ...
... none of which you actually need (OK, I did need the brimmed straw hat for two pounds, especially since it got up to about 80 degrees F that day).
The walkway spits you onto Portobello Road, where the market extends for perhaps as much as a mile, and on a rare warm, dry Saturday in London ...
... you can guess the turnout.
Shopping in London is incomplete, of course, without a visit to Oxford Street. I think our visitors, though veteran shoppers, were unaccustomed to the throngs on a London high street on the weekend. We took a side trip to Carnaby Street ...
... which was a little more enjoyable this time because OK's OK and YK were able compare the relative qualities of English and U.S. board shops. And I did get a snazzy pair of Vans, which, of course, I didn't need either.
It's hard to say where the center of the market is. You get off at the Ladbroke Grove Tube station, and then see a sign that instructs you to follow a walkway under the Westway Flyover for 200 meters to get to the market. But as soon as you step into the walkway, the stalls begin. You keep following the walkway, seeing a lot of different interesting stuff ...
... none of which you actually need (OK, I did need the brimmed straw hat for two pounds, especially since it got up to about 80 degrees F that day).
The walkway spits you onto Portobello Road, where the market extends for perhaps as much as a mile, and on a rare warm, dry Saturday in London ...
... you can guess the turnout.
Shopping in London is incomplete, of course, without a visit to Oxford Street. I think our visitors, though veteran shoppers, were unaccustomed to the throngs on a London high street on the weekend. We took a side trip to Carnaby Street ...
... which was a little more enjoyable this time because OK's OK and YK were able compare the relative qualities of English and U.S. board shops. And I did get a snazzy pair of Vans, which, of course, I didn't need either.
posted by Smitty Werbenmanjensen at 10:34 AM
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