Mimi Comes To Visit

Life in London Week #2 September 14th-21st

This week Steph and I spent a lot of time exploring new neighborhoods. Here are some of the places we went: Leicester Square which is a large square in the West End surrounded by resturants and theaters. China town where we admired the hanging lanterns and exotic food in the shop windows. Covent Garden Market which is an indoor market with darling shops, resturants and almost constant live performers. One afternoon, Maddie refused to take a nap I let her watch TV for the first time. She loved it!

We spent another afternoon letting the girls play a at The Princess Diana Memorial playground in Hyde Park. 

Brenda arrived in London early Friday morning and we found her

at Liverpool Street Station. First stop was Portobello Road Market, the worlds largest antique market, where we got Brenda an antique china cake stand for her birthday. 

Saturday, Kellen arrived home from New York. He had spent the past week there waiting anxiously to be issued a UK work visa. We walked from our house to the Borough Market for lunch. The market is under the train tracts and has any type of food you can imagine. It was incredibly crowded and we had to push to get the stroller through. Close to the market is the Tower Bridge and by the Tower of London. It was a beautiful day to explore the neighborhood.

Sunday began as usuall with church in the morning. Our church takes about 35 minutes to walk to so on the way home we stopped by the Colombia Road Flower Market. It is only open Sunday from 9am-3pm and sells all different kinda of cut and potted plants. We picked up 3 stems of hydrangea, one of my favorites.  

Our last stop was to walk through Brick Lane Market. This market is only open on Sundays and is literally on our street. It sells a little bit of everything vintage and much more. We live in a neighborhood called Shoreditch. It has a very tendy and hipster vibe which at first I was not fond of but have come to love. The red brick walls outside our flat are covered in wall art aka graffiti and there are numerous vintage clothing stores, trendy eateries, and junk stores all around! A few places  that get a special shout out are (so I do not forget about them are: Shoreditch Junk: It is the first thing I see every time I walk out of my building with its two very appealing signs in the window. 1) No chidren 2) Kiss my A**. Just keeping it classy! 

Hot Beigel Shop: just around the cornor and has the most delicious begals with cream cheese for £1! Lastly, a shout out to the neighborhood rat mural, just saying!!