Fused Together Shoe Laces

I woke up around 9am to realize I’d gotten around 12 hours of sleep. In a way it did wonders for jetlag (I woke up at 9am on my own - no alarm or anything!), but I still felt odd for a bit today. Almost feverish. Took 2 advil, drank a fruit smoothie, and mind-over-mattered the situation.

Ellie and I took our time getting out of the hotel and found ourselves 6 minutes shy of making breakfast at the hotel. Shortly before this realization I finally got internet service and read an e-mail from my mom that told us about a market today called Portobello market and we decided to grab some food there. The concierge told us what felt like complicated directions, when in all actuality we were still just a little scared about getting around. Happy to report we successfully caught the bus (a double-decker red one none the less), understood how useful a oyster pass is, and made it to the other side of London.

Earlier in the day I had gotten in touch with a couch surfer (couchsurfing.org) named Giovanni and asked him if he could recommend some other cool places in the area. While waiting to hear back we went to eat at this amazing restaurant with a very odd name - Prince Albert. I ate hands down one of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had. It was a potato, lentil, and spinach patty with lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella, and red peppers on top. I can’t even explain how good it was. I wish I’d taken a picture of it. Of course I forgot my camera for my first day out in London - I took some with Ellies though.


me in the restaurant.

While at the restaurant Gio texted me back and suggested meeting up with us at Portobello market. Instantly I was very proud of my mom and her good research, I wouldn’t have been there to begin with without her advice! I told Gio we were already there and he said he’d meet us in a few hours. The market was amazing. It was filled with small shops in a Carytown sort of feel, but more vintage and unique. All the shops had booths set up outside and it felt like it went on for miles. We walked at least 1 and hadn’t gotten to the end yet.


Despite all the great things to buy, this pup was one big highlight of the market.

Realizing that I forgot to bring a single scarf to an area that wasn’t going to get above 65deg, I bought 3 scarfs for £10. Great deal.



A very hectic part of the market, but had the best jewelery.

After a while Gio texted asking where we were, and lines got crossed and when I told him we were at Spitalfields (think Urban Outfitters but far out of our price range - even the sale section) and he ended up on an opposite side of London from us.

It ended up working out in our favor because on that somewhere between where he was and where we were was a free music festival. Ellie and I had quite a tube adventure getting there. The first two underground stations we walked to were closed. We ended up catching a bus to another station that was farther away and rode it to Bethel Green. The music festival was called Paradise Garden and was really great. It was way bigger than the Richmond Folk Festival, had so many different types of food, and such an array of people. Gio introduced us to his friend Atsushi who moved to London from Japan about a year ago. They were both really great guys - good senses of humor. Gio then introduced us to some of his French friends at the festival. A girl whose name I can’t spell - something like Emilyeine and a guy named Thomas, another named Christophe. We watched a pretty cool swing band with them and then went to a hip-hop tent and onto what promised to be an electro jazz tent. A lot more jazz than electro, but either way they were good company and we absolutely wouldn’t have found this festival without them.


(the whole festival sign says heart and soul)

Leaving the festival we met up with Atsushi’s friend Adrianna whom I loved. She is from Brazil and studying English with Atsushi in London. She was so sweet, reminded me of a combination of so many friends at home. We chatted for a while and she told us she was walking to a small backyard BBQ get-together for her brother and invited us along. It was earlier in the evening and Ellie and I were totally comfortable with her, so we all went together. The BBQ was great - met people from Ireland, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy, etc etc all in one place. And it was maybe 20 people max! I couldn’t get over it. There was a bonfire, tons of instruments, and everyone was very welcoming.



photo of Atsushi and Gio, respectively

We stayed there until about 10 and then Gio helped us get back to our part of town, showed us around Piccadilly circus, and walked us back to our hotel. He promised it was a safe area, but it was nice having someone familiar with it to walk us back. We parted ways about a block before the hotel and Ellie and I came upstairs and collapsed into bed.

It wasn’t 2 minutes later that we decided we were starving. In all the excitement we had only had the amazing lunch earlier, and I had a few carrots in hummus and a veggie kabob at the BBQ but no actual dinner to speak of. We decided that it was okay to order room service as long as we kept it under control (i.e. didn’t order a ton of stuff) and I’m sitting here writing this with a belly full of spinach/tomato omelette.

Our plans for tomorrow are written down on a sticky note that Ellie put on my pillow while I showered the bonfire off of me from the BBQ. Apparently we are going to H&M, Harrods, Brick Lane, and writing poems in the park. I think that sounds perfect.

Going to bed watching rugby on tv - how the hell do they jump that high?