April 16: Last Trip to Portobello Road

This morning I took off for Portobello Road across Hyde Park. I went alone because I really wanted to be able to explore at my own pace. It was an amazingly beautiful day. The sun was shining and bright and warm and there was just a hint of a breeze that smelled like flowers. There was even a carousel in the park that reminded me of the one in Mary Poppins. When I got to the market, I wandered all over, looking at all the tourist junk and antique marvels. There were lots of wisteria blooming on the old houses. For lunch, I had planned to visit the iconic Hummingbird Bakery for one last red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting, but a bakery stall caught my eye in the produce section of the market. They were selling piles of doughnuts with bright sprinkles, which is what I was drawn to, but then I noticed a sign for an apple cream filled pastry and had to try it. It was incredible. The outside was a flaky pastry originally in an oval shape but folded over a layer of cinnamon apple preserves and a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream puff cream. The top was sprinkled with cinnamon and big chunks of sugar. I was pretty much in Heaven.

Walking back up the street, I bought a few more Beatrix Potter prints, just because I like them, two botanical fairy prints from an old book about flower fairies that show the "Mountain Ash Fairy" and the "Plane Tree Fairy" (plane trees are very common here and they're very odd-looking so of course I notice them all over and to me they really symbolize "London" the same way a red bus or Big Ben does so this was the perfect souvenir with character for me). I searched all over for a nice silver spoon set or something but nothing was quite right. There was lots of silver plate but that's not good enough. I really thought about getting an antique tea cup or two (I stumbled across one that had beautiful trilliums painted on it) but I don't think I could get those home in one piece. I found a really great jewelry seller who had exactly what I'd been looking for. I bought a big rough-cut ruby in a bright carmine red in a teardrop shape with a nice simple but heavy silver setting. I liked it so much, when I saw the same jewelry designers second booth a little later, I picked out a round, cushion-cut rose quartz ring that sparkles something fierce in the sunlight. There were two little British girls manning that booth and they "helped" me pick it out. They were stinking adorable! Oh, and as I left the produce area, I made sure to stop at a tent selling nectarines that I'd seen last week and had been craving all week. They are the best nectarines I've ever had!

I walked back through Hyde Park towards my flat, enjoying the day. It had become pretty overcast, and almost looked like rain but it so pretty, with the bright green new leaves in the park set off against the dark purpling gray sky. I found a horse chestnut with very low branches that was flowering and satisfied my year-long curiosity as to what the heck the white flowers look like up close. They were really pretty and I was surprised to see that the older flowers had some bright pink in the center. I met my friends in the park, having a picnic and playing soccer. We'd decided to throw our own "Mini Mifflin" party in Hyde Park so we put down the extra bed sheets we had and procured a frisbee and a soccer ball. It was lots of fun. I'm glad I left when I did though, because the idiot boys decided to get a goofy miniature barbecue tinfoil thingie and light it in the park where signs proclaiming "No fires of allowed" are everywhere. Predictably, they got caught just as their sausages were getting done and had to beat a hasty retreat back to the house. They're not real bright.

Beautiful Hyde Park, literally right across from my flat

Wisteria on Portobello Road

This is a yellow tree peony. That gate post has to be 7 feet high...Um, wow!

Portobello Road

Beautiful ancient climbing rose. It was a true purple-black.

Amazing apple cream puff thingie

Tree peonies, for 5 pounds. I almost died.

Old man with a chunky dog on his shoulder, drinking whisky outside the "Duke of Wellington" pub and listening to a wacky looking Asain lady wearing a crazy knit hat playing guitar (pretty badly). You can't get more Notting Hill than this!

Nectarines!

Hyde Park on a Saturday afternoon. Sighhhhhhh...

Silly duck on the Round Pond

The Round Pond

Horse Chesnut

So that's what they look like up close!!!

It was a busy night and I ordered two new goldfish from a breeder in Hawaii. One's black with a super long tail and telescope eyes and the other is identical but silvery white. They'll be arriving at the house on Friday afternoon, just before I get there, so there's an added incentive to leave London. I've already decided to call the black on "Winston." He needed a British name, and "Charles" just wasn't going to cut it. We threw a big party in our common room after dinner and everyone came down. We split into teams of "Trashy Americans" and "Posh Brits" and dressed the parts and played games against each other. I think my team, the Brits, won, but nobody was really keeping score. I'm kind of surprised no one got hurt, with the crazy games we played. I tried to go to bed a little early, since I'll be getting up to go to church at St. Paul's Cathedral tomorrow morning!