Wednesday, May 19, 2010

London - Portobello Market

So this was my first time in London. Singapore used to be a British colony so I somehow felt more at home in London, cos some things are just similar to those in Singapore.

- Cars drive on the "wrong" side of the road! - Wrong according to my German hubby. He claims that since Germans are the inventors of the automobile, anything contrary to German traffic rules are "wrong". This is something I have to agree with him though!
- They use a 3-pin plug, compared to the 2-pin plugs in Germany. When I first saw those plugs, I thought, "Oh boy, just like back home!" Such a small thing, but just something that tugs at the heartstrings

- The double-decker buses. Have you been on any of those? I bet Singapore modelled ours after theirs! Everything about the buses in both cities look alike.

- Names of underground stations like "Queensway", "Holland" reminded me of similar-sounding places in Singapore. Crap, even the Monopoly that my family used to play together (which my Dad always win, I'm not kidding here, the whole family can team up against him and he will still end up bankrupting everybody)....Ok, where was I? Yah, even the Monopoly that we used to play is a British Monopoly, with names of cities like "Pall Mall", "Mayfair", "Oxford" etc.....

- The Language. Oh boy. England is probably the only country in Europe which uses English as their official language. I can't tell you how much I loved picking up English newspapers and just looking through the magazine stands! Suddenly my brain was in hyper-active mode! I actually understand everything at first glance! Everything! No more puzzle-making in my brain, but information overload! Woo-hoo!

Alright, I won't mince my words. I've got almost 400 photos from both London and Paris and I think I will bore you to death if I just upload them all.... Think I will bore myself first before I bore you. So, I decided to choose some shots that meant something to me and I hope you will enjoy London through my eyes!
The first place we hit was Portobello Market, at the recommendation of Belinda. It's only opened on Saturdays and is a superb place to enjoy the atmosphere of a London flea market. There were loads of people and the hustle and bustle of people selling their wares, tourist clicking non-stop at their cameras and the whiff of food filled my senses. I knew that my holiday had started!
This is the Travel Bookstore that was made famous by Nottinghill. A romantic comedy at least 10 years old, which stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

That's a dancing robot on the left and Paella on the right (not fantastic)

Doing the very Singaporean thing of trying food! I bought this when my Dad said "Buy lah, we can share". Turned out? My brother doesn't eat prawns, Dad ate 1 prawn and said he had enough. I ended up having to eat it all by myself together with Stephan. One word: family.
In front of a cute blue house. This photo is special because I'm actually the only person in it! Portobello Market is so crowded that its virtually impossible to take any photos without any other people.
Some random store in Portobello Market

Ok, first half of first day done! :) Wish me luck with the rest of the 4.5 days in London!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

i love london & would love to go there again definitely! I like yr picture with the blue house especially, too nice!!! i bet u had lots of fun, did u do loads of shopping?

Aunty Grace said...

Hi Pris,
Want to know why the buses in London and S'pore seem so similar? That's because the Metroline which owns a fleet of 1200 buses in London is owned by Comfort Delgro of S'pore. Yeap the same owners who run the SBS buses in S'pore.

irene said...

Howdy Pris,

Loooooooong time since i popped by. have loads going on and in the midst of helping with renovation works my kids new abode.

By God's grace, year of Jubilee,shared my blessing and help girls buy a condominium.. Good that you had time with family......Take care and enjoy your summer......God bless

Pris said...

Hey Manis!
Yeah, London is really cosmopolitan! Love it! Thanks! I like that blue house too! There's a nicer photo of it but I decided to post the one with my face in it! hahah.... Yeah! We went to Primark, but I only spent about 20 pounds there.... so disciplined right??

Pris said...

Aunty Grace - Nope, I had absolutely no idea!!! Wow, SIngapore companies are going places! Buying over bus companies in London even! How did you know about that fact?

Pris said...

Hey Irene!
Nice to see you here too! :) How have you been? Wow, great that you helped your girl buy a condo! Great Mom you are! Oh, summer is far from here! Its sooo cold today! Barely 10 degrees...brr! Should get warmer soon though!

Aunty Grace said...

Hey Hey, I need to know such things- its part of my job.

Pris said...

Aunty Grace - I see! I thought so too...that you would need to know about different companies for your job.

Steph Uy said...

I also went to see the Travel Bookstore when I was in London in 2001 just because I loved the movie so much. :)

Did you know I went to kindergarten in London? :P

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