London -- Friday

On our last day in London, we went to Portobello Market. Very enjoyable, and great fodder for photos.

This seems to be London's version of a dollar store. (I just made that up, of course.)

Now that's my kind of graffiti. If you're going to deface something, might as well do it with Scrabble tiles and words!

This scene just made me smile. The black table and chairs, the gingham cushions, the remains of tea for four.

Another great vendor of vintage type letters and numbers. If money were no object, this would have made a great souvenir from London.

We saw this kitty sitting on top of a wall, and Eva was beside herself with excitement. Kitty was only too happy to oblige, offering himself for petting galore. Marc shocked me by petting it (he is super allergic). The man can still surprise me.

You know I loved this!

I didn't even go in this shop. Just the window was enough to give me a thrill!

We passed a churro stand. Eva hadn't eaten anything yet, and she loves to get churros from Costco, so we stopped. They were unbelievable. They cram at least a dozen of them into a little cup, pour sugar all over them, and then give you a little cup filled with incredibly good, warm chocolate sauce for dipping! Seriously. We all shared them. I'm still dreaming about them. They were that good.

I read this saying by Churchill again recently and was struck by it anew. It's been on my mind, so of course my eye went right to this banner. Now I'm wishing I'd stopped and asked the price -- wouldn't that have made a fabulous souvenir?

This woman walked by and I whipped around to snap a picture of her skirt. It was actually pieced. I've never seen a pieced quilt article of clothing like this before.

Can you believe I didn't buy any of this ribbon?? I don't know what got into me. I didn't buy one single thing in London, other than food. I didn't even think about it. Not like me at all. It's interesting, I'm finding I get enough satisfaction from taking pictures, I hardly miss the actual buying. (Mostly.)

Just a happy sight.

I saw two gay guys picking over these shoes, holding several pairs in their hands. Drag queens, perhaps?

We were all thirsty and stopped to buy drinks. Marc was curious about this ginger beer and had to try it. I like ginger, but oh did this pack a whallop!

Lucas discovered a love of strawberry Fanta while in London. This can cracked me up, doesn't the Arabic look all bubbly? Funnier still was Lucas's attempt to pronounce whatever this says!

By the time we finished with Portobello Market and had lunch, it was getting late in the day. We had originally thought of going to the Tower of London, but discovered that it closed early and we would only have half an hour or so by the time we got there. Marc proposed going back to the Natural History Museum so that Max could see it and we could see another portion of it. The kids were excited. I was really disappointed about missing the Tower. Another maybe someday item.

We walked through the giant mineral hall, where Lucas was more excited than I would have suspected. He took a million photos. This is a display of all of the known colors of diamonds (200+). Who knew?

A close-up of some mineral I can't remember. I just thought the texture was really cool.

We re-visited the creepy crawlies exhibit. I saw on a bench and rested my tired feet. I looked up and saw this! I can't even describe how much I hate 'pedes of all kinds. Talk about creepy.

Of course we had to revisit the dinosaurs.

After leaving the museum, Marc and Lucas took off to go see The War Horse. We wanted Lucas to have the opportunity to see a show as well, and when presented with several options, this was his choice. The woman at the box office said that it is perfectly geared toward 10-ish boys. Apparently it has life-size puppet horses that are amazingly convincing. They both raved.

Max, Eva and I went back to Wagamama. (I picked up a Happy Meal for Eva on the way.) Max got seafood ramen, where he had fried tofu, Japanese fish roll, and smooth dory for the first time. Thumbs up on the smooth dory (anyone know what that is in the U.S.?), thumbs down on the Japanese fish roll, and a meh on the fried tofu. He loved his dinner, though. When did one of my children get this adventurous with food?? I love that. Someday, someday maybe it will rub off on his siblings.

Click here to see all of my photos from London. (Jill, I've already heard you in my head asking why on earth I didn't take more. The answer is Eva.)