Portobello Road Market, Notting Hill, and Lost near the Circus

This was just an overall pleasant Saturday, despite a blustery morning. I went for a short run this morning, and much to my delight I discovered I live not more than ten minutes from a street market. The vendors were setting up their little stalls of fruit, flashy socks, cheap clothing, cat food, and lots of other good finds.

This afternoon, Pamela, Alyssa, and I went to meet Anja - who lives in Notting Hill - at the Portobello Road Market. It was jam packed with people browsing the antique/junk shops, overpriced vintage stores, quaint little bookstores like one would hope to find after watching "Notting Hill," and hoping to catch a glimpse of Hugh Grant - or at least a half-decent look alike.

After that Anja took us to her house; she lives with a bunch of other Norwegians students and short-term workers in a most lovely neighborhood...I was slightly green w/ envy when we arrived at her tree-lined lane, stately white townhouses rising up on both sides. Just a door or two down from the Arabian Embassy, she led us into a beautiful old house with a quaint little garden all decked out in autumn colours in the rear and an old-fashioned living room where photos of the Norwegian king and queen smiled down on us. Needless to say, I was very impressed. This was Notting Hill. I hope to go back often and have tea with Anja or meditate on their well-tuned piano.

From Notting Hill, we took the tube down to Oxford Circus (on the tube ride I learned how to count to ten in Norwegian). We found ourselves in the NYC-like heart of London. It was such a contradiction to see "Ripley's Believe It or Not" scrolled in florescent letters across the austere pediment of a building that - believe it - was probably older than the invention of the light bulb. People were everywhere, coming and going to the theatre, cinema, pubs, clubs, shops, tube, bus, and so forth. We then lost ourselves, along the way getting some pizza and ice cream. Now it's time I found my bed...