Notting HIll 2

Today we decided to head back to Notting Hill. There is a huge antique market on the weekends, and the last time we went was a weekday. Michaele and I met Megan and Damon at Ponders End and we took the train to Liverpool Street, and made our way to Notting Hill Gate. There was a ton of people filling the streets. There were antique vendors selling everything including dollhouse collectables, art prints, jewellery and furniture.

We lost Damon at the tube station while we were waiting for George. Without cell phones here, we have to resort to pre 1998 ethics – if you cant find someone, or if they don’t meet you at the right time, you just leave. So Michaele, Megan and I headed to the market, hoping that we might bump into Damon and George eventually. We walked into a ton of stores, including a really cool Scottish store that was selling tartans and wool blankets. Megan bought a newspaper boy hat and sported it for the remainder of the day.

Notting Hill is a very posh part of London – we decided to look into a real estate agent’s window, and the average price of a flat was about £1000 a week to rent – that’s about $8,000 a month. That didn’t fit our current budget, even though it would be nice to have a flat closer to central London.



The day drew to a close, and the lighting on the white stone buildings was really spectacular, almost a sight from California. We went back into the Travel bookshop and then found the flat where the movie Notting Hill was filmed, it was just basically a plain blue door. As soon as we turned the corner, we recognized the yellow and black striped shirt of the person in front of us, and we were reunited with Damon and George. All 5 of us hopped back onto the tube and got out at Tottenham Court Road and walked to Nando’s where we were to meet Fernanda and her cousin from Portugal, but there was no sight of them upon arrival, so we found a small Italian restaurant called Amalfi’s. We were seated in the basement, which required travelling down a steep set of stairs that was no wider than your body. The restaurant was very nice and gave us necessary rest from all the day’s walking.

On our way home, we walked through London’s China town, which was decorated with beautiful paper lanterns and Chinese architecture. The ride home on the tube was a little interesting. We waited at Piccadilly Circus for the train, and while we were waiting a large croud had formed waiting for the train as well. As soon as the train arrived, people just pushed their way into the small cabin and we were packed shoulder to shoulder. Once the train arrived at the next station, the doors opened up and even more people pushed and crammed their way in, although I don’t know how it was physically possible. I was grabbing onto the yellow support pole, and had someone crushing the front of me and people on every side – there was also a small girl that was below us. Things got really interesting when we would pull up to a station, and someone in the back yelled, “I need to get off.” I almost suggested body surfing – but it was useless to get everyone off at his or her desired point. Luckily our stop was the last one on the Piccadilly line, and we made it home without problems.

We also walked by this pub in downtown London called Admiral Duncan!