Days 11-12: Markets, Galleries, and First in Line to the Hogwarts Express!

Day 11: Saturday, March 24

Saturday morning started out a little later than our other mornings, for which Carmen and I were both very thankful.  The jet lag is no longer an issue in the morning, but we do have trouble going to sleep at night (perhaps because it is only early evening in Atlanta, so Skyping with people who are barely ready to eat dinner while we’re sitting in bed getting ready to go to sleep is throwing us off a bit).  Maybe this will wear off.  We’ll see.  Anyway, we moseyed around for a bit, then headed to Notting Hill to the famous Portobello Road Markets.  Notting Hill, famous for the movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, is a quaint little part of town where all the houses are painted in various shades of pastel colors.  Precious.  Were it not for the (I’m sure) quite steep house prices, it’d be an adorable vacation home.  Minus the crazy crowds on market days.  So, then, maybe not. Ha ha.  It’s just a really cute area.  Also, George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and 1984 (flashback to high school English anyone?) lived on the road for awhile, and there is a sign above the house he lived at, which interestingly, is now for sale.  I’m curious the asking price!

We made our way to the markets by following the insane amounts of crowds.  I’ve seen learned that Saturday is antiques day and that the market is the largest antique market in the United Kingdom.  I don’t think that either Carmen or I would argue this point after witnessing the masses!  There were literally hundreds and hundreds of booths and thousands of people swarming around, most of them giving little or no mind to my personal space bubble.  I take this bubble very seriously, but since living in London, it has become much, much smaller.  Mostly thanks to the tube.  Carmen and I were almost in shock at all the booths and items for sale, so for the first 30 minutes or so, we just wandered aimlessly.  We found a necklace at one of the booths that Carmen really liked, but were not impressed at the price of £8.  A little steep we thought, so we decided to see if we could get a better deal further down in the market.  Just a few tables later, we came across an amazing selection of scarves.  I mean, hundreds!  And at a price of 3 for £10, we couldn’t resist.  We both picked out a beautifully colored checked pattern with some sparkly threading throughout (of course!) and another one as well.  I found a fun, London t-shirt for only £5 and bought it as well.  I bought a few more items as well, but can’t give any more details because they are presents!  We found a less pretty version of Carmen’s necklace down the road (perhaps miles down the road…it went on forever!) for only £6, so when we went back to the original stand, I was able to haggle the man down on the price!  We were both quite excited.  Apparently all my shopping in Mexico has turned me into a good bargainer!

After spending several hours at the market, Carmen and I headed up to King’s Cross Station.  Can anyone figure out what’s coming next?!?!  If you know us at all, it should be no surprise that we were going to visit Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter!!  I swear, we were like little kids at Christmas and couldn’t contain our excitement when asking employees at the station where to find it.  I have to admit it was a little disappointing, due solely to the small size of it, but it was still so cool.  I took several pictures of myself trying to make it through the wall to make the Hogwarts Express in time!!!

Outside of the King's Cross/St. Pancras Station.  Yes, this is an actual train station.  So pretty!

 

At Platform 9 3/4...the only way to get to the Hogwarts Express!!

We then headed to a pub recommended by Rick Steves (our life preserver in London due to his amazing guide book) called Blackfriars.  We had a great server with an amazing accent who kicked some guys out of a table for us so we could enjoy a lovely dinner.  Ha ha.  No worries, they were not actually eating, so they just got sent out to the pub area as opposed to the dining area with big tables for plates.  Once again, Carmen and I had our favorite ciders with dinner, after which we headed back home to get ready for another big day!

Day 12: Sunday, March 25

Our actual first goal for yesterday (Saturday) before the markets was to make it to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard ceremony.  Sleep reigned, though, so we decided to try again today.  It seemed like all was going well.  We were on time, no super delayed trains, Carmen’s amazing map skills leading us in the right direction, and then, out of nowhere, there are tons and tons of people around Buckingham Palace.  Man, I’m thinking, this Changing of the Guards is the real deal.  Some big stuff.  More than even what I was imagining.  And then we notice all these people appear to be running.  In racing clothes.  With numbers pinned to their shirts.  Hmm…apparently there is a very large RACE going on that starts/ends/goes around Buckingham Palace (hosted by Sainsbury’s…the grocery store chain, remember).  And so there’s this big sign out front of the palace (behind the huge iron gates and in front of the guards) that says there will be no guard changing ceremony today.  I was heartbroken.  And I do not think the Queen would find it acceptable to cancel the guards just due to a race.  Even if it does raise money to help kids in Britain and Africa to stay in school and stay fit.  Ok, I might be a little bit dramatic.  But still.  It was a bit saddening.  Guess that’s one item that will have to stay on the list for another day (and for those interested, yes, in fact, there is an actual, on-going, handwritten list by me [and added to by Carmen as well] of things we are going to do…gotta stay organized, people!!).  So no guards, but we did get to enjoy all the sights around Buckingham Palace: many gardens, ponds, memorial statues, and of course, the race!  I would not chalk it up to a total loss.  It was still pretty cool and impressive to see.       

Buckingham Palace.  Enough said.

We made our way down The Mall towards Trafalgar Square (seems we always end up there, doesn’t it?).  There’s just a lot to see and do around there, plus lots of places (i.e. pubs) to eat.  All of the big gates surrounding Buckingham Palace are for one of Britain’s commonwealth’s (e.g., Canada, Australia, etc.) and are beautifully done in wrought iron and gilded.  Making our way to the Lord Moon of the Mall (a pub we have frequented many a times now), we order the usual (chicken sandwich with free drink!) and enjoy watching the crowds.  It was an absolutely beautiful day; we’re still lucky with the weather, so keep your fingers crossed for us. 

At the Canada gate.  See, gorgeous, right?

At the Official Olympic Countdown Clock at Trafalgar Square.

At Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery, which houses a collection of some of Europe’s finest artwork.  Once again, a FREE museum, so we decided to take a look around.  With over 60 rooms and hundreds of works of art, we had to be a little bit selective, or else Carmen and I would have been there for hours.  So we used good, ol’ Rick Steve’s guided tour to help pick out the best works to visit.  We saw amazingly preserved artwork from the 1200’s and forward.  Amazing.  [Side note: We have got to teach America how to preserve historical items, especially buildings.  Prime example: here in London, when a new restaurant needs to be built, it has become the custom to re-do an old bank and keep all the architecture and such, but just change the actual type of venue so the people can enjoy the heritage of the building.  In the US, we’d just bulldoze the old building to build a new one.  It’s very saddening if you think about it.  The same with beautiful old houses.  Most of the houses here are from the 1800’s and even earlier sometimes.  The only modern houses (in London, at least) are from the 1930-40’s.  During WWII, bombs would be dropped on houses, so these are the only houses that have since been rebuilt.  So it’s almost sad to see a modern house because you know that a bomb landed there during a war.  Really hits home about the war, as Americans never had to deal with that sort of destruction (except for Pearl Harbor, of course) on the home front.]  Anyway, that was quite a detour from the National Gallery.  I just don’t think I had mentioned it yet.  So obviously, the paintings section of my blog was the perfect time.  Ha.    

Back to the Botticelli’s, Michelangelo’s, Raphael’s, Da Vinci’s, Monet’s, Renoir’s, Van Gogh’s, and my own personal favorites, the Seurat’s.  I have loved Seurat since I painted a copy of one of his paintings during high school.  His style was pointillism, which is tiny little dots that come together to create an entire picture.  I think it looks amazing, and it was truly incredible to get to see a version of the actual painting of the one I copied so long ago now.  I re-created The Seine and la Grande Jatte – Springtime (which is at the Royal Museums of the Fine Arts of Belgium), and the picture at the National Gallery is The Seine seen from La Grande Jatte.  Very similar though.  I just stood there for awhile and gazed.  I was quite happy about getting to see many of his pieces of art.  Don’t get me wrong, the others were beautiful too.  It was a lot to take in, but Carmen and I were quite lucky to be able to experience the Gallery.

On our way to find our community pharmacies (where we will be starting tomorrow!), we missed our train for the first time.  Major sadness.  However, it was not our fault.  Seriously.  A couple from London missed it as well.  The reason?  We were all distracted by a man who had what could have only been prostitutes (or escorts or whatever you want to call them) on each arm!  I mean, an old, unfortunate looking man with very scantily dressed (especially for 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon) young women (also, might I add, not that attractive).  The couple, along with Carmen and I, were so shocked and in fits of laughter that we all walked onto the wrong train and didn’t realize it until one stop later!!  We all had a good laugh out of it.  So, I think it’s safe to say we won’t count that one as a true getting lost on the tube experience.    

A picture of me and Big Ben on a beautiful sunny day.  On our route that day, so we had to stop for a picture!

After finding our pharmacies for the next day, I crashed for a long (and might I add, much needed) nap!  I awoke, only for us to realize how early everything closes on Sundays.  Even places to eat.  So, we made it a Pizza Hut night!  Complete with half cheese-less meat lovers, half veggie chilli supreme.  And honestly, one of the best meals! Ha ha.  We decided to make it a Sunday night tradition!