Old Londonia Town - the morning edition.

So I took Marty to London for a whirlwind trip, a little over 40 hours in the largest city in Europe (if you don't count Istanbul or Moscow). So we landed rather late, as the plane was delayed. Then we missed the first train from Gatwick and at 11 at night, it means that you have a half an hour wait or so till the next one leaves. Luckily for us, it was proving to be mild in London compared to what we had left behind in Warsaw. So it wasn't such a bad wait. Into London town, get Marty the old Oyster card and then we are off, only a couple of tube stops to
yes, the stereotypical location for Aussies in London. Though we weren't there looking for a Walkabout pub and some vegemite, we just happened to land a hotel there on the cheap. Barkston Gardens, not too bad when it comes to London hotels, that is. Jason Langdonian from Adelaide and Marty's friend Ewa caught up with us after we checked in, but with it now being midnight and being in London, all was closed with the exception of KFC, McDonalds, Burger King and the Kebab shop. So we grabbed a couple of drinks at the off licence; alas, even they couldn't sell alcohol so it was just a couple of ginger beers and a redbull. We had a few hours chat to prepare us for the next day.

Ok, so we rose on the Sunday at a reasonable time. Had a massive eat-in breakfast at the hotel and hit the happy trails. First stop was two tube stops awayat the popular Notting Hill Gate home of Portobello Markets (also before you get bored and click onto some internet porn or gossip site, this is the last tube sign photo, I promise). I was very glad we did this first thing, as previously I only ever seemed to visit these antiquities markets in the late afternoon on sunny days. Which spells crowds and pushy tourists.
Some of the stalls have faux antiques, where as most of these things are straight off the boat from China.
While others are too, but they sure look pretty in the sunlight.
I have always had a thing for fobb watches. They just scream regal class.
I took this one, right before seeing the sign telling me not to photograph. Another advantage of the early morning, people are too busy setting up, drinking coffee and wiping the sleep from their eyes to care what you do.
A photo like this wouldn't be possible in the afternoon rush, as A) I wouldn't have seen it and B) it would have had a million map reading tourists in the way.
Contrats and colours and morning sunshine. Also nice to see some red bricks again after Warsaw's fear of bricks.
I didn't know who was looking the more worse for wear, the delivery bloke or Horace, the wobbly legged Giraffe.
Sometimes even the public toilets can be attractive. This is the curved exterior of one at the bottom of Portobello Road.
I just love long shadows, there is nothing like crisp early morning light.
So enough blending with the locals, it is time to make Marty a tourist!