More sore feet in London

Yesterday we woke very early to the sounds of stalls being set up outside our hotel for the weekly Portobello Market. After a leisurely breakfast we ventured out to be confronted with hundreds of people and hundreds of stalls selling everything from antiques (real and fake) to jewellery to fruit and veg.

I liked this coat but at 250 pounds it was out of my budget

I was really tempted with these trays of printer blocks but the letters I wanted were 2-4 pounds each (quite a total if you want the whole alphabet - which I did) so I resisted.

Of course there was food but I had only just had breakfast.

and buskers

Then we caught a few tube trains to the Fashion and Textile Museum which one of my students last week had told me about (thanks Linda). The current exhibition was a history of the Horrockses Label which was the off the peg fashion house of choice for everyone (including the Queen and her sister) in the 40s and 50s.

I really enjoyed it as there were a lot of original frocks with interesting narratives and lots of information about the fabric designers complete with sketches and design books and printing notes.

I was the only one in the exhibition apart from one bored security guard and so I could get up close to everything.

On the tube home a group of young girls had this beautiful bunch of balloons - or were they??

London

We are staying in the middle of Notting Hill but I haven't seen Hugh Grant anywhere. The Gold Hotel is also a pub and full of really interesting photos and our room looks onto Portobello Rd so should be interesting on Saturday morning when the Antique Market is on.
Some of the antique shops are permanent and we have already seen these interesting items like the loom ends of silk

and these cute tins

Remember these cupie dolls - look at how much they are worth now

Pizzas are displayed very creatively

Of course the architecture is magnificent and according to real estate windows these homes are fetching up to 2000 pounds per week rent or can be bought for 4-5 million. Scary!

Wealth is also displayed on the street - this one house had a Porsche, a Maseriti and a Ferrari outside with a Lamborghini across the road. Of course they could just be visiting!