Antiques and Tapas

Cheers everyone!!! Sorry it's been awhile since our last post, but it's been a busy few days. So, we'll try to keep up with our posts as best as we can from here on out. With that being said, let's get to our third day in London!

So, we started out the day at our new favorite little coffee spot - Cafe Nero! We received a loyalty card and it looks like we'll be getting a free drink soon. After our mid morning coffee, we decided to take the tube to Notting Hill and check out the famous Portobello Rd. Market. The "official" market day is Saturday, but we thought we'd check it out on Friday to miss most of the crowds. It was a very intersting street. Our sis/sister-in-law Candace visited London a few months ago and she commented on the colorful flats and houses. That is actually the first thing we noticed upon arriving at the market/market shops. Most of the flats and buildings are bright blues, reds, greens, yellows and all other colors of the rainbow. It adds a touch of color to the neighborhood and lends a bit of life to the other surroundings. As odd as we might think it is in America to paint our house a non neutral color, it might actually help to add some much needed character to our rather drab dwellings. The beginning of Portobello Rd. has a large number of antique shops and antique dealers. We found a few amazing pieces, like an Union Jack chair, a roulette/poker gaming table, an old rowing club sign with wood oars and some other stuff. We didn't purchase anything due to getting it home and the rather high prices. The dealers on Portobello Rd. know their goods and it's highly unlikely that anybody will find an amazing deal.

After the antiques, the market turns to clothes, some touristy items, fruits and vegetables and then a vintage fashion market. Towards the end of the market, the booths become almost non-existent and the area becomes extremely ethnic. We walked up and down the street a few times and then grabbed some lunch at a nice little bakery called Gail's Artisan Bakery. Brittany didn't really like the chicken fougacia sandwich she got and wished we never stepped foot in the cafe. However, my turkey sandwich was tasty and the cappachino I ordered came with impressive latte art.

Brittany did purchase a nice bracelet from a small boutique in which the shopkeeper told her she had very good taste. That made her day. While that was the only purchase we made, there were some very cool shops. Check them out at http://www.judy-fox.com/ and http://www.savagelondon.com/.

After Notting Hill we headed back to the flat to map out the rest of our day. Seeing as how it was actually fairly late in the day, dinner was the best option. We passed an interesting Spanish Tapas restaurant in our neighborhood early in the week and decided to check it out. We got reservations for 8:30 and headed out. Prior to leaving we didn't map out the location because of Jason's keen directional sense. After walking along a path that was very familiar to us both, we ended up scratching our heads at where this restaurant was. Going around in circles and being 5 minutes past our reservation was too much for Brittany, so she asked a Brit for directions to the road in question. It was right in front of us and we made it to the restaurant; however, it was not the one we passed a few nights earlier. It didn't matter because it was a great foray into the wonderful world of tapas.

We had a quiet table towards the back of the restaurant with only a candle for lighting. We ordered some wine and a sangria, bread with dipping sauces and six different chicken/chorizo and potato dishes. They were fantastic, especially the chicken croquettes and the potatoes with a tomato/queso based sauce. After the dinner we ordered the pears, strawberries and churros with a chocolate dipping sauce. Everything was delicous. While we dined a leisurely European pace, our check came at an even more leisurely pace. Apparently, in England, you have to ask for the check. While it's nice to not be bothered as often as we are in the United States, we don't like to wait a half hour for the check. After finally getting our waitresses attention, we received the check and headed back to the flat.

We want to comment on the whole check process. We love the fact that the servers aren't pushy and the dining experience can be as pleasurable as possilbe for the patrons. It seems that in the states, the servers are war too eager to get the current patrons out the door and new ones in so they can get more tips. It's rather pushy and we definitely see why other countries could view us as obnoxious. While it goes both ways, there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from the English and European way of life.

Now that we've stepped off of the soapbox, we just wanted to say that we closed out a lovely day with a lovely meal! Cheers and stay tuned for Day 4 and Day 5!