LONDON – SOAKING IT ALL IN

By week two in London things had settled down. We were easing into travel mode and making the most of the ‘not quite so terrible’ weather. We’d get up early, layer up in almost all our clothing (thank goodness for thermals!) and head out to explore different parts of the city.

 

If you’re familiar with the online fashion photography community, then you most definitely would have heard of Kitty Gallannaugh’s beautiful work. I’ve been a fan of her pictures for years! So when she sent me a sweet message asking if we’d like to meet up while I was in London, I jumped at the chance. I caught the train out to her and we drove to a park to see if we could find some deer. I was ridiculously excited to be hanging out with someone whom I’d admired for years, and also because I’d never seen a deer in real life before! While walking Florrie her gorgeous puppy, we chatted about our passions and the crazy world of the internet. Every time we stumbled across a heard of deer they took my breath away. Such a lovely afternoon with great company, I feel lucky to call this wonderful girl my friend.

One rainy Saturday we made our way back to Portobello Road to see the weekend market in full swing! The bad weather hadn’t deterred the crowd, and we zigged and zagged our way through the masses looking at antique trinkets and home-made treats.

Taking a dusk-lit walk near Kings Cross station, no particular destination in mind just on the hunt for new streets to explore. It always fascinates me to see streets lined with identical apartments/hotels as far as the eye can see! So very different to Australian cities and our mismatch buildings.

Catching the train to Soho for dinner at an amazing vegetarian/vegan cafe, Beatroot! Hidden down an alley way this gem has a ‘fill a box’ type order system with the best tasting vegan shepherds pie I’ve ever eaten. We just had to come back after trying it by chance one evening. Afterwards we wandered the streets of Soho by street-light and I loved how much the suburb transformed from calm and sensible day to busy and bustling night.

Sunday found us at Brick Lane Market. Hoards of people travel to this little laneway each Sunday to rummage through vintage wares and trash/treasures. We grabbed a bite to eat in a food hall and joined the others sitting on the curb watching the masses stroll by. It’s surprisingly pretty easy to find tasty vegetarian food at London markets! I had a delicious dish of eggplant, rice and veggies.

From the Brick Lane Market we made our way through quiet streets towards the Columbia Flower Market. Poor Martin has to put up with taking twice as long getting anywhere when we’re travelling because I stop every few steps to snap a photograph… I can’t help it that London is incredibly picturesque!

We followed the trail of people with arms filled with beautiful blooms until we stumbled upon the Columbia Road Flower Market. I’ve seen flowers at markets before, but this market is entirely filled with flowers, plants, seeds, and bulbs. It was so busy we could hardly make our way down between the stalls, which goes to show just how popular this market is! There were some of the most beautiful flowers I’d ever seen, at a bargain price too!

 

Sun shining with the smell of delicious blooms in the air was the perfect way to finish up our time in London. It was the marking of the end of winter, and the first day of Spring! And next we were off to beautiful Paris.