After four days in Scottish paradise, I filled yesterday with adventures in London. Team Bunkbed woke up super early and hopped onto the Tube toward Notting Hill. We found the much-recommended Portobello Market without a problem. We started at the beginning of Portobello Street where the market is held on weekends, browsing antiques, since Kelsey was looking for a vintage map. There were tons of vendors lining the street, with everything from new souvenirs to hundred year old boxing equipment to jewelry and silver teapots and everything in between. I enjoyed picking out things to put in our houses when we’re old enough to have paid off our student loans.
I’m not sure how long the market is, and though there are technically different sections, they all blend together. There were clothes and music and food in addition to antiques. Kelsey got a Nutella crepe, as she can always be counted on to do. A few stalls later we both stopped in our tracks, saying “woah” at the exact same moment. What was the reason for our exclamation you ask? Delicious looking pastries of course! Though moments before I found myself weighing if I was hungry enough to eat a bruschetta, I ended up buying a huge whipped crème-filled, chocolate-iced donut from the stand. It was incredible. There was lots of thrift stalls towards the end, but we were both trying to save our money so we ended up just looking without really shopping.
After an hour or two we headed back to the other end of the market, it was now after 11:00, and we had to fight our way to the crowds that suddenly appeared. Kelsey ended up getting a really cool map of the British Isles from the 1800s, but I left empty handed.
We got lunch at an Indian restaurant near the beginning of the market and spent lunch in awe of the steady stream of people filtering into the market. I’m so glad we went early, we could barely move on our way back out. I had a delicious pumpkin curry (I feel so cultured, I’ve had Indian food TWICE! Haha) and pilau rice, my new favorite.
Kelsey and I split up after lunch, and I went to Tottenham Court Road to buy a ukulele, an idea I got a few days ago when I was missing my guitar and viola. I borrowed the guitar of one of the guys in the program one day, but I really just miss my own instruments and being able to play music whenever I want. This is the longest I’ve gone without playing music since fourth grade, and I’ve hated it. I needed music back in my life, and a ukulele is so portable it seemed like a no-brainer.
Tottenham Court Road has one side street near the tube station that is packed with music stores. I’d never been over there when they were all open, and I loved being surrounded by musicians looking for new music and instruments, I didn’t feel weird geeking out about music like I do in most other situations. After asking questions and wandering in and out of music stores, I finally found what I was looking for, in a color that didn’t make me feel like a four year old (the first store I stopped in had cheap ukuleles, but my color options were pink and green…no thanks).
Now I have an adorable little yellow ukulele. Even just playing for a few hours yesterday (it was really easy to transfer what I know from guitar to the four-stringed instrument) I feel so much better having music back in my life. I was really missing it, and it’s been a music-filled week with all of the concerts in Edinburgh. It sounds sappy and silly, but music makes me happy. That’s all there is to it. Now I’m a Londoner with a uke, and life couldn’t be better.
No comments:
Post a Comment