Portobello Road & St. Paul's

Tuesday 20^th August

Before we left home I tested my pedometer and found that it is very accurate…today we gave it a good workout and we have walked 11.48 k’s!

We started at Portobello Road and enjoyed wandering through the different sections of the market. I came close to buying a phrenology head…(see the photo) but later in our journey we’ll be somewhere quite renowned for them. We couldn’t resist buying a punnet of raspberries…they were so cheap…about $2.50…they were a delicious little snack :-)

From there we took the Tube to St Pauls Cathedral. Andrew was disappointed that he was not allowed to take photos inside but he got some great shots outside. We were very impressed by the beautiful mosaics and the paintings in the awe-inspiring dome. We walked up the 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery and saw it all from that perspective too. I could hear Andrew whispering along the wall but he couldn’t hear me! It’s amazing how clearly you can hear the whisper over a long distance. The acoustics are unique…I couldn’t help but think about Charles & Diana being married there and imagined how beautiful the music and singing must have sounded. We also wandered around The Crypt and were amazed to see the tombs of the Duke of Wellington, Horatio Nelson and Christopher Wren.

We then walked through Temple Bar, past The London Stock Exchange & The Old Bailey. Along the way we joined the throngs of people enjoying their lunch in the parks and outdoor cafes on such a balmy summers day.

Next stop was the London Silver Vaults, home to the world’s largest retail collection of fine antique silver. Behind the huge safe doors and within its vaulted walls there are silver specialists who deal in silver from all over the world, in every period and every style. We particularly liked some of the detailed silver yachts and schooners.

On the map it didn’t look like a very long walk to Regent Street but we really should have taken the train…Andrew was a bit cantankerous by the time we made it to Liberty and he was still a bit grumpy after a long cool glass of Ginger Beer and said he’d wait outside for me…he thought it was bit old and decrepit! I loved it and made a few small purchases before finding him sitting on a step outside. We really should have could the tube to Bond Street from there but again it didn’t look far on the map…big mistake…the closer we got to Selfridges the more crowded the streets were. We thought we’d find something yummy in the Food Hall to take back to the flat for our dinner. It was just as crowded in Selfridges as it was on the street outside and Andrew wasn’t the only one who was not happy…we decided to head for home on the tube and stopped at a M&S Food Store at Paddington Station and found a roast chicken and lovely salad for our dinner.

It was lovely to get back to the flat…we sat out on the terrace and revelled in the tranquillity…