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| Tube station |
Hit our first snag on the way to Notting Hill
this morning. Got to the tube station and discovered that most of the
north-south tube lines are closed this weekend for maintenance. They were
offering busses instead, but when we got to the bus stop it was packed with
people…and the busses that came were already full with people. So what should have been a quick ride
on the tube became a longer journey, as we opted to go back to the tube and
take a round-about way to get to Notting Hill.
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| Entering the market |
Notting Hill, of course, is the little town
made famous by that movie where Hugh Grant’s character lets Julia Roberts’
character kick him in the nuts over and over. It is also the home to a very
popular outdoor Portobello market where the streets are lined with vendor
booths selling everything from clothes and souvenirs to antiques and all kinds
of food.
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| Our gnome surfing the market crowd |
And oh yeah…it was a mass
of humanity. We made it through
maybe half of the market…and that was still quite a lot. It was tough to move
with all of the people, particularly the stupid tourists who’d just stop in the
middle of the road. Ally found a
cute union jack scarf, but as far as souvenirs go we decided we’d wait and shop
for those where it’s less crowded.
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| Huge cauldrons of paella |
Crepes seemed to be really popular with lots
of vendors making them, and there was one place with three huge bubbling
cauldrons of paella brewing. Figured since we were heading to Spain we'd wait and do paella there. We
opted for grapes to munch on as we strolled.
From Notting Hill, we decided to go back to our
home base at Earl’s Court and watch the Chelsea game at a local pub. We were
surprised to find the game wasn’t being shown on TV…nor were any other games of
the top league. Turns out we see
more EPL games in the states than they do in England. Very odd.
Ally wants to point out that our neighborhood
of Earl’s Court reminds her a lot of Ballard. Lots of shops and restaurants,
annoying motorcycles, and sirens. Lots of sirens.
We’re going to be a bit screwed tonight
trying to keep tabs on the Sounders game.
It would be starting at 9pm here, and our Starbucks hotspot will be
closed by then. However, our good friends and soccer buddies the Cooks will be
tweeting us updates!
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