Olive the Antiques Were Pretty Cool--Day 38

To tell you the truth, Portobello Road wasn't as great as I thought it would be. Oh, don't get me wrong. I did like seeing some of the antiques, handbags, and especially the dresses (which were pretty cheap). But I really didn't like the crowds. I felt squashed and uncomfortable. Maybe I'm more claustrophobic than I care to admit. Lauren and I took the advice of our professor and found a vendor who specializes in Wedgwood vases (which are made after Ancient Greek vases) and brass objects. I cyber-purchased a brass coal scuttle for 160 pounds. I hope that the class (and more importantly, my professor) thinks my piece is legitimate. I tried hard to look at it and compare it with the pieces I saw in the V&A, and I noticed a lot of the same characteristics--attention to detail, subtle imperfections (kind of counter-intuitive, but you have to think about how run down something would look after more than 100 years), and the presence of the artist in the piece (by presence, I mean that you can tell that the piece was carefully handmade, not mass produced or hastily assembled). I took a couple of pictures of the item for class, but I will share them with you, too, so you can see what I'm talking about.

The coal scuttle that I "bought" on Portobello Road.

The lid of the scuttle.

After we each found our items, we continued to wander down the hill so we could poke around the shops for fun. One shop had these lovely wool shoulder bags, and I really wanted to buy one, but they were at least 20 pounds, and that was a little bit more than I was willing to spend. We also stopped once or twice to look at some dresses, which were so cute! We want to come back soon so we can take more time to look at them--and barter for a lower price. Another impressive part of the market was a shop exclusively dedicated to old sewing machines. I'm telling you, that place was packed floor to ceiling with shelves of Singer sewing machines. We didn't go inside, but it was incredible enough just by walking in front of it.

Finally, we reached the part I was most looking forward to--the food vendors. My cousin's fiance recommended the Portobello Market exclusively for its food. I was dazzled by the wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables. I wanted to buy some nice cucumbers and aubergines (eggplants), but I didn't want to trouble my roommate to stop. However, we both agreed to stop at an olive stand to take a look at them, and this mix of pitted green cherignola and kalamata olives (at least, that's what I think they were) with whole garlic cloves called the Sorrento Mix caught my attention. I bough 250 g for 3 pounds and 40 pence, which isn't the best price, but I figured I can afford to treat myself a little bit because I've been budgeting so well. I ate some of the olives with lunch, and they were fantastic! I am definitely going to buy more when I go back.

I also wanted to buy some bread, but no one was selling any reasonably sized loaves (they were all too big for just me to eat, and I suppose I could have shared them with friends, but I didn't really think about that at the time. I was too busy trying to fight my way through the crush of people). And anyway, we had enough of an adventure trying to get to the market that I really didn't want to spend anymore money. Basically, one of the Tube lines is completely closed, and another Tube line that travels much the same route is blocked off along a large stretch of its route, making travel pretty tricky. We had to take the Tube part way and then get on a bus, so I spent a little more in transportation than I would have liked.

But I made up for it by simply walking home. Now, it is not very close to Chelsea, but the route is pretty simple--much less complicated than trying to get back on the Tube and snake my way around the city underground. I suppose it was good to get the exercise, but I was pretty exhausted when I got back. Fortunately, I had some homework to do, so I could just sit for a few hours instead of physically straining myself. Yet my peace was disturbed shortly after lunch when the fire alarm went off again! In my haste to get the heck out of the building, I forgot to put on shoes and a coat. It was pretty chilly today, so it was not very pleasant to stand outside shivering. However, the Chelsea Fire Station is only a block from our residence hall, so the firefighters arrived in a timely fashion, and we were back in the building in no time.

A few of my friends are gone this weekend on various trips, so Haley, Kayla, and I went to The Stockpot for dinner. I had a nice roasted pepper, artichoke, and sun-dried tomato salad. Afterward, we went to Snog again and then watched Tangled (gotta love the internet). It was really nice to chat because otherwise I would have spent the evening by myself (Lauren was with her parents).

I suppose I should tell you that I am much better from my cold. Hopefully I am only sick once, and now I can enjoy the rest of my trip in good health. Also, I heard that someone tried to break into the Tesco, and that's why it closed (they had to repair the damaged door). Rumor has it that it opened up again today. I guess I'll find out when I go on Monday.

Tomorrow is our trip to Greenwich. It should be pretty cool. Unfortunately, we were not given tickets to the Royal Observatory, so that will cost extra (about 10 pounds) if I really want to see it. I'm not sure if I want to pay that much. I think it would be just as satisfying to see it from the outside. I am hoping for a nice day tomorrow, but I suppose I can't really bank on anything, and we haven't  had any rain for a few days.