Like Chinatown x 100 but Cooler

On the last day in London, and the last day of my European adventure, I saw what was quite possibly one of the coolest things of the trip.  Actually several very cool things.  Plus I FINALLY found the shoes I have been searching for for a very large number of days!

We began with a very long bus ride to Camden (where there is an extremely, exceptionally large market... but I'm getting ahead of myself).

As seen from the bus window

We also drove through Piccadilly Circus, which was like a VERY mini Times Square.  I share Moo Moo's curiosity in wondering who is it that said "in the midst of all of these quaint pretty buildings, lets put a huge obnoxious electronic billboard!!" And who is it that agreed with him.  It is kind of like London Eye (the ferris wheel) "I know, lets put a big ass ferris wheel in the middle of the city, and lets put it right on the water" "yeah, bloody great idea, mate!"

Whatever

We shopped around a little bit, and Ali bought a pair of Doc Martens from the original store in London from where Doc Martens were sold.  We also shopped around a little bit looking through all sorts of kiosks and various little shops.  

Ali in front of the Doc Marten store

Cool sign, but not nearly the main event.  

After we shopped for a little bit we stopped for some coffee and found a Camden Lock or Log or something like that.  It's kind of like a mini dam.  It was very pretty in any case, so we decided to walk along it.  Where we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of some music video.  

It was funny, we saw these people dressed peculiarly, and as we were commenting on how pretty the area was and how it felt as though we were in an alternate universe, throngs of people came running from the tunnel with a camera making a music video.  The video is promoting this strange hat called, wait for it.... Hanky Hat. 

After the filming people had cleared out this group of a shit ton of little kids on kayaks made their way along the river place.  Not 10 minutes prior it was pouring down rain.  

After our little surreal music/kayak adventure we found ourselves in the REAL Camden market.  It was crazy! It seemed to go on forever, like people started with some old tunnels and built and built until it was this huge sophisticated market that put Chinatown to shame.  They had everything.  Every culture, subculture, food, style, ethnic group, what have you was represented! 

It was called the Stables Market so there were these cool Horse sculptures everywhere.  It was really amazing.  I have never seen anything like it, and there is no way that these pictures do it justice.  This is only a small fraction of what could be seen.

At one point there was a variety, in a row over the course of just a few meters, of Brazilian, Thai, Mexican, French, Italian, Japanese, and Indian food.  There was also Moroccan food, and several Hooka bars as well as kinds of Chinese and other Asian foods that I didn't even recognize.

 I really think this whole place just grew and grew until it became this massive thing.  Apparently on Sundays it becomes so crowded that the nearby tube stations only allow people to get ON and not OFF to try and control the numbers of people in the area.

I really couldn't stop taking pictures.  I think I spent a good part of our time there with my mouth gaping open!

When we finally found our way out of the market and got outside, there was no indication of the organized chaos that was taking place inside the walls, spilling out into the streets on the other side!

Where the door is visible a little ways back in the picture is the exit we came out of.  

A hugely entertaining part of the day was a game Ali and I played.  I call it: Spy the ugly leggings-as-pants.  Leggings as pants, when not in one's own home or at the gym, are bad enough when they are black.  But we saw some things... things I will never be able to UN-see... and for your benefit I took several pictures, so you won't be able to un-see them either.  

The above images are leggings that are being sold.  The cheapest pair that we saw were  8 pounds.  That is like $13! They went up to 20 pounds! 

Please note the blue and black leggings that should not have left the theater stage paired with a hardly visible faux tiger fur jacket.  I do apologize that I could not get a better picture.  

These vertical zebra pants were unnervingly popular on todays streets.  

Today's sights also include neon green (on a man), peace signs, polka dots, leopard print, and many others.

It was all in all a very exciting and tiring day! And on the bus ride back to our apartment, we saw Westminster Abby up close and personal! It was a great way to end the trip!

Also, Mic and Sarah would like for me to clarify the picture I posted in a previous blog with them and Big Ben in the background:

Moo Moo and Ali got them the shirt (as seen on the left) and they posed, backwards, but you get the idea anyway!

Tomorrow I head home.  While I am slightly freaking out about the flight, I look forward to 36 straight hours of sleeping!

We're Higher than a Truck

So in a very brief synopsis of the last two nights that I opted not to blog about, mostly because I didn't feel like it, on Tuesday, we went shopping and walking around Stockholm.  I got some cool stuff, including a new Merimekko purse that I love and some presents for some people.

It was our last day in Stockholm.  I really loved getting to know Therese again, and Magnus is such a nice guy, of course I got to be friends with Vanja, and even though she is terrified of me, Vendela is a cute little girl as well.   I waited my whole life to go to Sweden with Moo Moo, so it is strange to think that after so many years of talking about it, the trip was over in an instant.

Therese and Magnus

No wonder they call it "the Tube".  It's tiny. 

However long or short the stay in Sweden seemed, it was time to move on to the next leg of our little adventure journey thing.  We left for London around lunch time on Wednesday morning.  A trying trip to say the very least.  I'm not sure if you have ever traveled with children without being one, but it is not easy.  Especially with a million heavy bags (and to think, several bags were left in Stockholm to be picked up later), a 3 hour plane ride, and 2 long subway rides.  

Mic and Sarah

We got to the apartment in London with Mic and Sarah around 7pm I think.  

For the night we just hung out, made a trip to the store to get a lot of alcohol (all so I can practice my bar tending skills, of course) as well as milk and yogurt for the kids, and we just had a nice relaxing night.  

Today the real London Experience began. 

I was awoken a little bit after 10, after what was comparatively a blissfully quiet morning.  After a little bit we headed out on the town, ready to take in all the sights, though at the time I wasn't sure what the sites consisted of outside of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.  

We left our part of London (or in a suburb just outside, I'm not really sure on that) and headed into the main part of the city on a double decker bus... which would have been super awesome except for the obnoxious woman sitting directly behind me.  

Not the one we road on, but still a double decker bus just the same!

The cabs all look like this here with variations on the paint... And yes, the wheel is on the wrong side.  Just as wrong as the side of the road the Brits drive on.  It makes crossing the street a perilous adventure. 

The woman was so loud, speaking a combination of some unidentifiable language and heavily accented English.  It was like "blah blah blah blah fried chicken".... really, what?! Then she would ckackle.  Not laugh.  Cackle.  Loudly. 

Over the course of the day we trecked all over London.  Sarah and Mic, Mic being especially enthusiastic about our needing to see London, lead the way.  They made sure that we saw EVERYTHING that a tourist ought to see.  

Buckingham Palace

Some weird changing of the guard ceremony type thing that we happened to stumble upon

Look at the Bobbys! I love the Bobbys!

This was a little bit later, still at the palace.  They also have funny hats.  It was a very eventful day as far as guards and musician guards were concerned! They were so very official. 

These Bobbys were clearly off to do something unsmiling and important.  They were followed by a throng of people. 

I thought it was just so nice that there were chairs just laid out for people to use.  This was either a part of or right next to (I'm not sure where the cut off is)  St. James Park.  It was a beautiful park. 

Dr. Who.  If you don't know what that is, google it.  There were phone booths everywhere, and many of them were decorated in different fun ways!

Big Ben.  Not the best picture I took of it, but it will do.  I was so pumped for Big Ben, and it really is a beautiful clock! 

London Eye, or Eye of London or something to that effect.   Basically it is a big ass famous Ferris Wheel that Ali really wanted to see.  It was quite cool though. 

Though not technically a Bobby, he was not allowed to talk to anyone either.  I have forgotten at the moment what he was guarding (there were other guards as well).  

I got him to smirk.  It was his response to my saying I was quite excited by his hat.  Also I think he did feel it was a pain in the ass not to be able to speak to anyone.  

This woman was really cool.  Moo Moo said she had some sort of stand she was sitting on, but for serious it looked like she was just hovering.  And the guy literally looked like a statue.  I thought he was at first.  I don't remember what street this was on, but it was so fun!

Nolan took a picture with the Statue man, and I took a picture of both of them.  if you gave the woman some money she gave you a rock with something painted on it.  My rock proudly resides in my new purse at the moment!  The statue guy was just a character! He kept scaring people who thought he was real.
 

SoHo

Carnaby Street 

Some place in London with cool looking buildings. 

This was right at the cross of Oxford Street and Regent Street.  All down the street with the flags in both directions were the flags of all of the countries participating in the Summer 2012 Olympic Games.  The whole city was getting ready. 

We also saw the houses of Parliament, the Ministry of Defense, Hyde Park, the Marble Arch, Covent Garden, Tralfalger Square, and some other places.  I also saw a bus boat.  It is a thing that people ride in that both rides as a bus then drives into the river and acts as a boat.  So cool!

Also at lunch, we all only got one ice cube in our drinks.  Europeans!

If you have never seen the people of Walmart website you should go check it out now.  Like right now. 

Done yet?

yeah?

ok!

So after today I feel there should also be a comparable People of London website.  Though I'm sure many of them were tourists, there were just a lot of very badly dressed people.  One girl who scared me down to my soul had all black, a skeleton shirt, scary hair and makeup, a bunch of facial piercings, and the piece de resistance: she had had bumps surgically inserted on her forehead under the skin.  At first I was afraid to look, but then I realized anyone who would do that wants attention.  So then I stared pretty freely.  

There was also this gem:

A one piece full body jumper is bad enough, but this pattern shouldn't exist.  Lets take a moment to contemplate what this means for our society...

Probably nothing.

As far as the outfits go though, really no matter how awful and outrageous, as long as the people wearing them are happy and I never even have to seriously contemplate putting them on (or in some cases surgically putting things into my face) I am happy! 

Tomorrow is the last full day of the whole trip for me.  It's crazy how this all went by so fast.  But I guess that's like life, and life goes by fast.  

Oh and just to clarify the title, whilst on the double decker ride home after dinner, riding on the top level, my 6 year old nephew excitedly exclaimed several times loudly as he looked down "look, look, we are higher than trucks!"