London – Day Two

We left the Clarke’s Saturday morning.  Jenn drove us to the train station.  It took me a while to get use to getting into a car on the opposite side!

We rode a lot of trains and undergrounds while in London and Paris.  I fell in love with the train stations.  Don’t you just love the little old train conductor man in the picture!?

We arrived in London at Paddington Station – remember Paddington Bear?

Cali was an underground expert after having lived in London for six weeks and she could get us anywhere we wanted to go!  It was fun to have my own personal tour guide.

We checked into our hotel, a cute little boutique hotel, just off of Hyde Park on Sussex Gardens.  Our first stop was Portobello Market. 

I loved this place!!  Just a word of warning – there are a lot of pictures in this post.  I just couldn’t help myself.  So many fun and pretty things.  Portobello Market is one of the most famous markets in the world.  It is in the Notting Hill Neighborhood which you will recognize from the movie of the same name.  So many fun, colored houses!  Loved it.

The market is full of all kinds of fun foods and produce, antiques, vintage clothes, street performers.  My kind of place.

Cali had been waiting for me to come to buy me an antique tea cup.

I found one I loved but it had a small crack in it – the dealer gave it to us for free.  I love it even more.

I decided Cali need to have a silver teapot as a momento of her time in London.  We found the perfect one.

 I also bought some antique silver for a craft project I have planned at home.

I fell in love with the antique book sellers.  If I only had more room in my suitcase….

Just so many fun places to explore.

I loved watching the street performers too.  How cute is this – loved their outfits too!

And then there was the food!  Our first stop was for some paella – isn’t it gorgeous!!

And then some amazing bruschetta.

There were crepes too but I decided to save my crepe eating for Paris.

I couldn’t pass up having a red velvet cupcake from the famous Hummingbird Bakery!

A farmer’s market is also part of Portobello Road.  Of course I had to check out that!
 

We picked up some pretty lace scarves and Cali found a cute pair of what she called a short/skirt at a vintage clothing booth.  I told her they were called culottes and I use to wear them all the time.  Now they are considered vintage!

We had an amazing time at the market.  I could have spent all day there. 

We headed back to our hotel via the Underround.  One of my favorite things about the Underground is when you were getting on or off the recording would say “Mind the Gap” (meaning the space between the train and platform! ) Loved it – “Mind the Gap!”

 We went back to the hotel to change and then enjoyed a yummy Italian dinner and the show Billy Elliot. 

An amazing day in London!