London is truely an awesome city. I love it. The markets here are fabulous. Glebe market and Paddington market in Sydney, and Camberwell market in Melbourne are the paler cousins of the markets here in London. This weekend was all about "eye" shopping and visiting markets.

On Saturday, it was Celebrate Oxford Street and the street for the first time was closed to cars; and from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, the road was pedestrianized. By mid-day, the street was so packed with people because there a concert was set up in the middle of the road and there were entertainers scattered down the street, ranging from clowns on stilts and drummers playing suspended in air. It was cool to take shots of Oxford St standing in the middle of the road.

In the afternoon, I visited Portabello market near Notting Hill Gate with my cousin who was visiting for the weekend. Oh my. The market was so good. We moved from stalls that were selling creative and unique pieces by young designers, to stalls selling second-hand clothes and vintage items, to antiques and jewellery, to food stalls selling fresh bread, Mediterrean olives and cheese, to the food markets selling cheap fruit and vegetables (here, I saw a hugeee pumpkin). There is so much to see and eat.

Afterwards, we took a bus to Knightsbridge, where the famous Harrods department store is. Wow, its a drooling episode walking through the food court. Just imagine, rows and rows of truffles, chocolates, gourmet cheeses and other scrumptious goodies.

In the evening, I met up with two friends for coffee on the Strand in Covent Garden. My sense of orientation is poor. I feel wherever I go, I take the long way. I need to invest in a London map. One of my aims over this year is to get to know Central London really well. Later, we met up with some other people for a drink in the pub. Did I mention pubs here close at 11pm. Its really early compared to Australia. Anyways, the first pub we went to was Walkabout which ironically is an Aussie one. It was quite bad though. We left and stumbled into the Porterhouse Pub, which is the best pub I have been to so far in London. The decor is amazing..with copper pipes running throughout the pub. There were two (or three) levels..as we were there Saturday night, they had a live band playing downstairs behind the bar. Although the prices were steeper than other places, I think the atmosphere justifes it. We are going back next week. It is that good. I have these two friends that are German and of course love their beer. I, on the other hand, never liked beer..its that bitter taste that I never seemed to acquire a taste for. So, it has always been vodka concotions of some variation. But last week, I had a sip of my friends beer; she had ordered Fosters or Stella (forgot) with lime. And to my surprise, I didnt mind it. It wasnt bad and it wasnt great. It was just ordinary. So last night, I decided to order a pint of Chiller lager w/ lime and I actually enjoyed it. Maybe the lime made the difference, or maybe my tastebuds have changed *shrugs*. One thing I have definitely laid off are bottled Smirnoff, VDK, Barcadi Breezers and the like, which in comparison to beers, just taste so sweet.

This morning, after breakfast, I went to yum cha. what a bad idea. Because after both meals, I was so stuffed. Its so weird. In Melbourne, I have only yum-cha once and that was with a friend's family. But here in London, is already my second time to go for yum cha! Im suprised. I wasnt particularly craving for dim sums...I never really do. But Chris asked if I was up for lunch in Chinatown and I said sure. It turned out to be a good lunch, because 1. to my surprise, Chris had invited Li along, an old friend from HK who I havent seen in years (it was funny, because he was waiting at the entrance of the restaurant, and I walked in and we were both so surprised to see each other...he thought I was prehaps just there for a holiday and happened to be having lunch at the same place) and 2. I brought two friends from Goldsmid who have never tried dim sums in their life. And they loved it....of course!! haha who doesn't like dim sum. i forgot to order chicken feet for them. haha.

After yum cha, I headed to Liverpool Street Station to meet two friends from my course to go shopping at Spitalfield market. While Portabello market is more of an outdoor market, Spitalfields is indoors (its like in a sheltered yard). The place was packed. Apparently its only a Sunday market, and so hence the croweds. There were a lot of things I like, but too expensive to purchase. when we walked into the food section of the market, I wish I didnt eat lunch. There were homemade fudges, cakes, fresh fruit yogurts, olives, cheese...but even though I was stuffed, I still brought a belgium chocolate and nut slice..Mmmm

I seem to take less and less photos each day. But I guess thats normal, as I dont carry a camera around Melbourne taking photos every day. Ill try and put the photos I have....once I get my internet working in my room (its still not working! ahhh. Im using the net in the downstairs computer room)

Update - my internet is working!! woo hoo. thanks to my neighbor. okay, so instead of trying to do some reading before tucking into bed, I decided to upload the most recent photos. I realized, I took alottt of photos in Denmark & Sweden but Ill post them up another time