London Markets

There is no shortage of markets in London!  It is one of my favorite things to do because you never know what you might stumble on.  Old Spitalfield Market is one of my favorites. 

 

 

 On one side there is always fashion goods - clothes, jewelry, scarfs, leather goods, hats, ties... you name it! On the other side it changes from day to day.

 

Thursday is antique day.  You can find old records, books, furniture, cameras, vintage clothes, china, silver, etc.

 

It is fun to look through the old jewelry and charms...

 

It's not a small market and it is always crowded! (I got lucky with this picture...)

 

Thursday can also make for a history lesson.....

 

Another market I enjoy is in Covent Garden.  Covent Garden is in the theatre district so it is also entertaining!

 

Apple Market is in Covent Garden and it probably more upscale goods with home made clothes, jewelry, and home decor.

 

East Colonnade is also part of Covent Garden.  It has some touristy things but it also has clothes, homemade candles, leather goods, henna, glassware, etc.

 

I said Covent Garden was entertaining....  there are street performs all throughout the market area.  (Behind this performer is St. Paul's Church which is also know as the Actors' Church)

 

The performs consist of actors, magicians, singers.....

 

Musicians

 

At all the markets there is food!!  London is a very international city so you can food from all over the world!  My favorite Thai food is at Old Spitalfield.... above is Paella.  I haven't tried it yet but maybe next time.

 

Borough Market is a new find and it is a Foodie heaven...  I have learned that the day to go is Friday!  It is crazy busy and it takes time to take it all in!

 

It has flowers and plants... mostly herb plants.

 

Wild game (all from local farms and estates outside of town)

 

Fish

 

There is something for everyone!

 

Mushrooms... colors, shapes, and sizes I've never seen before!

 

Tomatoes and peppers

 

Veg (British for veggie)

 

Cheese... I got Marco some that was marinated in Prosecco (he loved it!!)

 

I few olives...

 

IPA beers... there is also a wine section where you can purchase a wine bottle for 2.50 GBP and they will fill your bottle with wine (red, white or rose) for 5.00 GPB.  You can take your bottle back anytime and they will refill it for 5.00 GPB.  Cool idea!

 

I don't think there is any food you cannot find at Borough Market.  Candy (above), breads, coffees, spices, fruits, olive oil, etc, etc.....

 

Another market I enjoy going to is the Greenwich Market.  It is a smaller market but Greenwich is a fun area to go to.  I have found a potter there from Jerusalem and I like his stuff (he members me when I'm there and gives me a good price).

 

Another market we have been to is Columbia Road Flower Market.  It is only opened on Sunday and it is super crowded... I don't know if I can get Marco to go back with me.  There are cut flowers and plants of every shape and size.  We bought a small Olive tree and have it on our balcony.  I wish I had pictures but like I said, it is super crowded and we were unable to get any good pictures.

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed the new post!

London Summer 2012



I can't express how lucky Marco and I feel to be in London during 2012.  We celebrated the Queen's Jubilee in June.  It marked 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign.  I learnt a lot about the woman and I have to say I admire her.  I was also impressed with the people here and their love and admiration for her.  The Jubilee started with the Flotilla down the Thames River.  It poured rain all day but it did not stop thousands of people from showing up (and the Queen stood on her barge the whole time).  The celebrations ended 2 days later with a concert in front of Buckingham Palace.  In August London hosted the Olympics and it was a huge success!!  What moved and impressed me the most was the Paralympic games.  More tickets were sold at this year's Paralympic games than any other.  The athletes were treated as heroes!

 

 

 

London had big screen TVs all over the city for both the Olympic and Paralympic games.  Any place that had big screens had a crowd of people watching and cheering.  Above is Trafalgar Square with The National Gallery in the back left side of the picture.  The museum has a large Agitos (logo of the Paralympics) on the front.  The logo was all over the city.

 

This is Barreto Hernan.  He is the Paralympic Bronze medal winner in the Men's 200m Athletics.  Barreto is from Argentina and has Cerebral Palsy.  He was amazed at the cheers, the pats on the back, and the fact that people wanted their picture taken with him.  (I hope he finally made it across Tower Bridge!)  You can also see the crowd of people in the back ground watching wheelchair tennis on a big screen TV.

 

 

Once the Paralympic games were over, London celebrated their athletes with a parade through the city.  This is part of the crowd cheering the athletes... you can see them between to 2 blue banners...  There were 21 flat bed trailers that carried the athletes through the city and over 90% of the athletes participated. 

 

 

Watching the crowd cheer and take photos gave me chills and it brought tears to the eyes of some of the athletes.

 

As I was leaving the parade, I heard a school boy say that he was glad that he came and saw.  I almost didn't go because of a threat of rain, but I'm also glad that I went.  These people are amazing.

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvwuAGHJP24

 

This is from the closing ceremonies... I get choked up every time I watch it and it was as though Coldplay wrote this song for these athletes!  I hope you notice the swimmer swimming the butterfly with 1 arm and the runner who is blind and has a guide running beside her.  They fall and they get right back up again.  They are truely amazing!!

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UzwgBHuwpA

 

Not all the athletes in the Paralympics have birth defects... some had healthy lives and were injured by an accident.  I also admire these athletes because they took something bad and turned their life around.  They could have given up and felt sorry for themselves (like many of us would do, myself included) but they didn't. 

 

The Paralympic games started in 1948 at the London Olympics.  They were started by a doctor that hoped to use the event as therapy for those injured during World War II.  It is the second largest sporting event in the world, behind the Olympics.

 

 

 

I'm sorry if this is on a more serious note but I was very touched and thought I would share.  I hope you were able to see the youtube links (please let me know if you were not able to open).

 

I hope you have enjoyed.

 

Suzanne





The Queen's Flotilla

The Queen's Barge - all the flowers came from the Queen's gardens.  The Queen (85 years old) and Prince Phillip stood on the barge for the whole journey and then some - even with the cold and rain (they were covered and they did have seats/thrones to sit on...)

The barge with the church bells.  The churches along the route responded to the chimes

Jack and Sam cheering the Flotilla!  These are the flags they received at the airport after they signed the guest book for the Queen

The barge leading the man-powered boats

The American Indians gave their support

The Canadians gave their support (in more than 1 boat...)

The Italians (Venetians) gave their support... again more than 1 boat but this was the longest

The Commonwealth countries gave their support

The military was (very) present

Single boats

Tug boats

A boat with a pink hat...?

Ambulance boats

Fire boats...

Narrow boats (a.k.a. house boats)

The larger boats did not make it as far down as our flat but here are some as they were making their way up river before the Flotilla

It was an amazing event!!  Much bigger than we expected.  There were more than 1000 boats in the Flotilla and the Queen was awesome!!  Over 100,000 people turned out for the event.  Some camped out the night before to get a good spot.  The temperatures were in the 50's and it was a very rainy day!  It was wonderful!!

Hope you enjoyed!!