Never Mellow Portobello

Contrary to what you might be thinking, there will be absolutely zero traces of fungus in this post.  So, if that's what you're expecting, then turn on the Food Network or something.

Kensington Palace, south side

Portobello Market is located in Knotting Hill, bordering the north-west edge of Hyde Park.  You must be so tired of hearing about Hyde Park!  I really love it, though, and every time I go I find something new.  For those of you who watch Ripper Street* or Doctor Who, the Police lantern in front of the Hyde Park Police House (who had any idea that this place existed?) will look quite familiar!  Also, here is a beautiful view of the south side of Kensington Palace, framed by changing leaves.

Hyde Park Police house

Hyde Park Police blue lantern

Portobello Street is very charming because it's in a semi-residential area, and the buildings that line the street are very colorful.  Even though Portobello is an outdoor to-do like Camden and Borough Markets, it seems to specialize in antique (and more expensive) items: silver sets, painted porcelain, ornate clocks**, Victorian-era jewelry, etc.  With all those zeroes in mind, I held my purse close in those areas - I was NOT about to accidentally knock a £25,000 sculpture onto the floor!  Yes, there were items that pricey.  It was definitely fun to look, though.

Portobello Market

The popular food items on Portobello Street are crepes and specialty/gourmet/super-secret-recipe hot chocolate and coffee concoctions.  Those menus were more confusing to look at than the ones at Starbucks, which is really saying something about Portobello cafes.

Speaking of Starbucks, I ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte the other day and it went like this (another necessary tangent, I promise!):

Sbux barista: ... and your name?
me: Adena
barista: Right .... I'm just gonna write "D", is that alright?
me: Absolutely!  That's what my professor calls me, anyway.
barista: We Brits struggle when a word has too many vowels.

To summarize, Brits are funny and both my pumpkin spice latte and my Portobello Street mocha were delicious.  Moving on.

Sheep on Portobello

The more affordable items included handmade things like scarves, dresses, hair accessories (yes, I looked hard for that big feather I want so badly for my hair), costume jewelry, etc.  By far the cutest and probably most random item: tiny handcarved and painted sheep (50 pence each (100 pence in 1 pound)).  And they were all different!  I should have picked one up.  Oh well.

I also spent a lot of time browsing booths selling first edition books.  There were Bibles, Jane Austen volumes, Shakespeare plays, C.S. Lewis works, etc.  Some of them had inscriptions from previous owners, which was pretty cool.  And, speaking of famous novelists and poets, I passed the home of George Orwell on my way to Portobello Market.  It looked pretty ordinary other than a plaque declaring its historical significance, but still significant to mention.

I saved this for last because it was so freaking cool and it took me a good 10 minutes to actually remember to take a picture (or 4 or 5).  Inside a clothing store on Portobello Street, there were shelves and shelves of old Singer sewing machines!  What's the big deal?  Well, we have an old Singer at my house (back in Pennsylvania) that I learned to sew with and we recently discovered that it was manufactured in February 1917!  Pretty cool, right?

Strangest part: This store (I can't even remember the name) was not selling sewing machines.  Only clothing.  I wish the machines were displayed with labels with year of manufacture.

Unfortunately, I didn't stay much longer than 2 hours because it was raining on and off.  On my way home I may or may not have been temporarily lost in the residential parts of Knotting Hill.  I don't usually bring a map with me (I do consult one before I go out) because I have a pretty good sense of direction, which is how I find all the really cool corners of London.  The fact that Knotting Hill has an abnormal number of dead ends definitely did not help.  I eventually made it back to Hyde Park.  On my return, I walked down Palace Ave (along the west border of Hyde Park).  This particular drive has various embassies (I definitely saw the ones for Russia and Romania) and residences of embassy/consulate officials.

And thus wraps another non-mellow portobello adventure-o!  Thanks for reading!

* Ripper Street stars Matthew Macfadyen (so it's automatically worth a watch), a police detective in Whitechapel who experienced the chaos of the Jack the Ripper murders.  The show starts 6 months after those murders.  Great writing and great acting!
** Sorry, Aunt Lori, the smallest clock they had for your mantelpiece was £350 (that almost $600)