London Trip, Friday 10/7--High Society London

What we really wanted to see was some ordinary houses with ordinary people living ordinary lives. But since that's hard to find on your own, we decided to go to the only place we knew of to easily find any houses at all... Chelsea. Not exactly the ordinary... We went on to another fashionable location, Notting Hill, to see the Portobello Road Market. A nice pampered way to spend my last full day in London.

• Sophia Kinsella British Fiction Moments: We started out our Chelsea tour on King's Road, which is another great fashion district where I had all kinds of Confessions of a Shopaholic moments, spotting Karen Millen, Jigsaw and Hobbs.
• Nannies, Maids, and Luxury Cars.. Chenye Walk is a section of Chelsea that has older, expensive houses, some of which were inhabited by well known writers and artists like George Elliot. We didn't see many actual residents, but we did see evidence of their lifestyle....nannies pushing carriages and maids (some in the black and white uniform) sweeping porches. The houses were beautiful, but the whole maids in uniform thing really makes me cringe. Isn't it 2005? I saw the first car dealership I'd seen in London on Cheyne Walk, and it was, of course, Mercedez-Benz.
• A new cheese.... On the way back to the Sloane Square Tube station, we stopped by an even bigger Marks and Spencer and walked down every aisle to see what Londoners buy at the grocery. I finally saw clotted cream (not something I wanted to try) and a massive selection of cheese (I wanted to try them all.) Since I couldn't try them all, I got a Wensleydale cheese and carmelized carrot chutney sandwhich for lunch. Delicious. It was then that I decided that I could definitely do just a cheese tour all across Europe.
• You never know what you can find at a market... ?? For me, that would be absolutely nothing. I appreciate most shopping, but flea-type market shopping tends to give me a headache. Portobello Road in Notting Hill is filled with stalls and stalls of everything. I liked the little cheese store. Yummm. But less than halfway through, I was done. I haven't yet learned the magic of discovering treasures in a flea market. What's the secret?
• Marian Keyes British Fiction Moment: I'd just recently finished reading Marian Keyes' Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. Lucy lives on Ladbroke Grove which I discovered was just minutes away from where we were in Portobello Road. Plus it had a tube station that was on a line and in a zone that I'd never been. Something new! Yes, this kind of thing excites me. It was definitely different, riding the tube with considerably less tourists around.
• Eating-NOT-on-the-go... It is not a myth that America is a go-go-go culture. Eating is no exception. Since I'm a very slooooow eater who likes to savor every bite, eating in Euope sat well with me. It does take some getting used to, however, especially when your server doesn't bring the check for a looong time and after he does bring it, there's not hurry to take care of it. In America, it may be considred bad service. In London, it's consideration. Meals are to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
• New British Foods: Fennel which I'm very embarassed to admit that I can't remember anything about, except that I liked it. We also stopped by a Pret a Manger on the way home which is a popular sandwhich/snack/coffee eatery in London.