Quick London Shopping Trip

Day 0 - Aug 28: Los Angeles to Chicago to London

We took off shortly after midnight, headed for a short four hour trip to Chicago for our 3 hour layover. This was pretty much the only sleep I was able to manage for the entire day.

Once in Chicago, we settled into a nice corner to rest and find ourselves some breakfast. We didn't quite get as comfortable as the guy with the pillow, blindfold and blanket though, he was in it for the long haul. I was excited for the Dunkin Donuts that Apryl spotted, but alas, the donut was dry and uninteresting. Plus, they didn't have any maple ones. So, I had to go for the ol' Standby, McDonalds.

Our flight to London was uneventful, and after the hour long tube ride, we made it into our hotel and given a room that did not live up to Miss Apryl's standards, as we had a view of scaffolding.

Day 1 - Aug 29: London

Luckily, Apryl set the alarm, or we probably would have slept most of the day. After enjoying our free buffet breakfast in the lounge, we headed out onto the town. Getting out tube day pass, we went out to the Spitalfields Market. Spitalfields is a covered outdoor area that houses Farmer's Markets and the like. On Sunday's its a clothing market, where local designers bring out their wares. Also in the area are bakeries and fresh juice stands. We partook in all of these!

Next stop, TopShop, Apryl's favorite clothing store. As she was given free reign to wander, an hour goes by with not much in her hands. She says, this isn't the good one, I need to go to the biggest one. So we ask the cashier, which store is the biggest. She says we are in it. They have a second store in Knightsbridge that isn't quite as big, but Apryl doesn't believe it. That means another TopShop tomorrow.

After stopping by the hotel to drop off the shopping spree, Apryl mentioned that she had gone to a pub that served good Thai food. Before we headed out, I spoke with the front desk about the scaffolding. He apologized and offered a bunch of hotel points.. Woohoo.. Our tummies were growling so off we went.

The trains were packed and everyone got out at our stop. We didn't know what was going on, there was security and police everywhere. On our way out, I picked up a pamphlet that said it was the Notting Hill Carnival, the largest Carnival in Europe.

We had a pretty good meal at the Thai Pub and then decided to walk into the "Carnival". To get there, we had to trudge through streets filled with trash, and then came to the Carnival Route. The Carnival route circles the neighborhood, where semi trucks pull trailers filled with speakers playing Carribean music while children in costumes follow. This isn't your typical parade, thousands of people are walking IN the street while the semis are driving through.

Within the neighborhoods are people selling food and beer from their patios and stages with bands on them. People just "hanging out" drinking beer, sitting in the streets or packed worse than a mosh pit in front of a stage. It took us 15 minutes to realize this isn't where we want to be, it took us an hour and 15 minutes to get out, mainly because the subways only let people out after 6pm, so we had to wait for them to open the stations. Worst crowd experience ever, makes the Int. Food Fair seem like a casual dinner gathering. Apryl says think of Compton and Watts having their own street fair, with no cops.. Would you wanna go?

Once we got out, we headed to Knightsbridge, but all the stores were closed. Back to the room, we decided we wanted to go to the Aboslut IceBar London. Its a room full of ice, at -5 deg, where you can drink vodka for 45 mintues in a glass made of .. yup .. ice..

Before the bar, we had unexciting Italian and some ice cream (not the smartest move before going into a cold room). We headed into the Ice Bar, donned our parkas and froze our butts off (actually, Apryl thinks she has frostbite on her nose).

A great day in the land of London, definitely wasn't the original agenda, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Day 2 - Aug 30: London (then flight to Lisbon)

Our next morning it was a little harder to get up, but we made it out of bed, got our free breaky, then out the door. Back to Knightsbridge, the TopShop was definitely smaller, but since it was empty of people, Apryl was able to better browse and found some things she liked.

From here, we found the Monument, climbed 311 stairs and then to reward ourselves, some AMAZING soft serve icecream from a truck. After spending an hour or so at the Tate Modern museum and Apryl transfixed on a photo of a woman with a bad (lopsided) c-section scar, we found a pub with great Fish and Chips. I have been VERY unhappy with the beer, but thats to be expected of British Beer.

Apryl found a Tesco so she could get her Digestives (British Cookies), we made it back to the hotel just in time. Off to the airport, we almost missed our flight trying to spend our last pound. They even called our name over the intercom. Then we had to wait to take the bus to the plane and off we went.

Our hotel in Lisbon is beautiful and can't wait to explore the city.

'Til next time!