I lived in London for almost five years. I can basically tell you that I know London at the tip of my finger. North, south, east, west - just tell me where you wanna shop then I know where you can find great bargains. Well, almost - coz I don't really go too south or too east since that area is quite 'rough'. I'd prefer west and north coz that's where you can normally found great outlets to shop. As for Tube stations to drop on/off - my friends even nicknamed me as the walking Tube map since I can practically remember all the station on top of my head. They even joked "press 1 for sale and bargains, press 2 for Tube map..." like the phone directory. Haha!
Anyway, for you that's quite familiar to my 'rampage' to the fitting rooms at highstreet stores, you probably don't know about everything that went behind the scenes though. Behind the scenes as in 'the journey' to get to the stores coz most of the times there're much more interesting things happening. From the surroundings that always inspire me, the people that's so wonderful and friendly, the local shops that's always exude its own charms. So, now I'm bringing part of the 'Once Upon A Time in London...' to reminisce all that.
First up is one of my favorite part of London: Notting Hill and Portobello Road.
I think most of you can recall 'Notting Hill' coz that posh area in London made famous my Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in the movie of the same name. But did you know that the bookstore that Mr. Grant work is an actual book store, not a mock up version? Well, almost... coz the name is indeed 'Travel Bookshop' but the location is not. The actual location that you see in the movie is actually a shop called 'Gong' which is around the corner. Still, at this bookshop you can find everything related to travel. The map, the sightseeing guide, the storybook that has anything to do with the genre 'Travel'.
Portobello is also famous for the street markets. Be it autumn like in this pix, or winter, spring, summer - the market is always buzzing with people. Yet the bigger one happens every Saturday when everyone from all walks of life visit the market for the art and craft thing. There you can find almost any bric and bracs practically from every century for your collection. Oh, please haggle... coz that's what markets are for.
Besides that, there're lots of vintage shops around as well as independent, local stores that sell great clothes and accessories. All you need to do is just have a sense of adventure and hop in, hop out to find that amazing 'treasure' though. :)
And as the name Notting Hill (Portobello Road is a street in Notting Hill btw, if you're asking), this is quite an expensive area where a room to live would cost you almost £250 per week rent. I repeat: a room, not the whole house! I once scouted for a bedsit and it'd cost me about £200 per week, and it's too damn small. Oh, fyi a bedsit is a room with your own small kitchen, without bathroom. It's like a 'low-cost' studio, if you may. Ahaks!
Yet, I love Notting Hill coz the houses look the best. Even at Portobello is not quite bad. If you go further down along Westbourne Grove the houses is even better looking. And Notting Hill is also the area where most of the celebrities live too - like Madonna.
I took these pix during autumn. So you can expect all the leaves are browning and falling down onto the pavement. The real 'scene' is way much better than it looks in the photos... I love going to Hyde Park though coz there the autumn look is at its best!
It's quite late at night... time to head home. It's damn freezing autumn night btw!
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