Days 77/78. Arrive in London.

Mary Kathryn made it!! She finally got a flight out of Vermont to Philly and had to run to make her connection to the UK. So we both arrived in London on Thursday (day 77) as scheduled. The first thing we did, of course, was to hit the neighborhood pub to catch up with each other. We have an apartment here in London in the Kensington High Street neighborhood which is a great area. So we walked around looking at all of the cool little houses up and down the side streets. We definitely felt we could live here...if we would only win the lottery.

Since we've both been to London previously and have both already done most of the "touristy" stuff, we decided that we would mostly focus on checking out the different neighborhoods.

The next morning, we decided to walk up to the famous Portabella Market in Notting Hill, which is only about a 15 minute walk from our apartment...


....on a cool street of multiple-colored houses..


Mary Kathryn had asked me what the market was like...did it have fruits and vegetables, etc....I told her she would have to see it for herself...



...because they have anything and everything...hats...


... jewelry, antiques, old signs...


clothes, household goods, DVDs, scarves...


...art, and all manner of food stuffs. It is a phenomenal market, and has grown significantly since the first time I went there, about 10 years ago or so. It goes on and on for blocks and blocks. It is quite an experience! (Pat, that little store near the market which we loved when we were here last September, called Chocolate Elephant, closed down two months ago..I was extremely bummed).

When we got "home" to rest our weary feet, I mentioned that I had really missed going to the movies since I left home! So we hopped on the tube, which is right on the corner, and headed over to Leicester Square....which is like Times Square in New York, in that it is where many of the live theaters are located, plus at least four movie theaters. We saw The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon...it was different :-).

Back to our little home away from home! More neighborhoods to explore tomorrow!

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