Christmas Chaos.

Well, Laura and I had a lovely time in London yesterday. The weather was fantastic, which worked out well because we did quite a bit of walking. We started at the Portobello Market on Portobello Road in Notting Hill (no, I did not see Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts -- bummer). This market is huge and unbelievably busy!! The directions on the website literally tell you to get off the Tube at Notting Hill Gate Station and "follow the crowd." No joke. The market is 2 miles long and split into various sections -- antiques, produce, etc. We did not traverse the entire two miles... in fact, we got tired of it pretty quickly.

We meandered (and by meandered I mean we didn't use a map and probably walked in a very squiggly line without any real idea of where we should be going) over to Oxford Street for a serious Christmas shopping experience. Along the way we found a Starbucks and enjoyed a nice walk through Paperchase (quite a fun store).

There are different Christmas markets all over London and we were pretty excited to stumble across this one on Oxford Street. It was tucked away off the busy street. It had temporary walls surrounding it and it was really pleasant because I felt like the busy city noises completely died down the moment we stepped in. We didn't buy anything there but it was fun walking around.


The rest of the day was absolutely chaotic!! Fortunately, they had closed Oxford Street to any motorized traffic for the day. Even still, there were so many people everywhere that it was hard to move. There was so much going on too. Everywhere you turned someone was trying to hand you a pamphlet or coupon or canvas bag with the American Express logo on it. There was a Marks & Spencers parade and people in elf costumes on stilts and fake snow shooting out of Selfridges -- it was crazy. Victoria happened to be in town with all of the boarding school girls for a day of shopping so we met up with her and some of her coworkers for lunch.

Of course, one of the main objectives of the day was to take Laura to Harrods since she had never been there. Holy cow. I tell you what -- going shopping in London on a Saturday just three weeks before Christmas is a pretty dumb thing to do but going to Harrods on a Saturday just three weeks before Christmas is absolutely idiotic. Seriously. There were so many people in there you couldn't even move! The whole building is decorated to the nines but it didn't even seem all that Christmassy in there because people were pushing and shoving and didn't really seem to be super happy, just eager to buy everything in sight. Madness. Absolute madness. You know that line in A Christmas Carol where Scrooge (picture Michael Caine) says "If they'd rather die then they'd better do it and decrease the surplus population!" I tell you what, if there was a surplus population in the 1800's, I'd hate to see poor Scrooge's reaction to the crowded London streets of today. Anyhow, Laura and I made our purchases and darted for the door.

Harrods had completely done us in. We were both overwhelmed and tired. Laura left to catch her train and I wandered from Hyde park up onto Oxford Street again. I just really wanted to see the Christmas lights all turned on at night time.

And that was the end of my day in London -- I couldn't take any more of it! I love Seattle. So so much. Save me some candy cane Frangos!! I'll be home soon.