Notting Hill

the famous blue door of Hugh Grant’s house in the film Notting Hill. Apparently the lady who bought the house from Richard Curtis got so fed up of film fans turning up that she sold the door at auction and replaced it with a plain black one.

Loved it

I’d like to go for several reasons.

1. The film, I love the movie and would love to go.
2. Portobello Road, thanks to another film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Love that film!

Well, those are two reasons anyway. And I was born in England so I’d like to get to know the country as I havn’t been there since I was 20 months old.

I went to the Notting Hill Carnival today. I’ve never seen so many people in 1 place in my life. I guess that’s what you get at the worlds largest street party.

I went to Notting Hill.

There I found the real Travel Bookshop. The one owned by Hugh Grant in the movie was actually a furniture store on Portobello Road.

Notting Hill is a mixed bag. We found a great shop that was selling used Rugby balls and used cricket balls for a decent price so we got one of each.

But the Portobello Market isn’t anything spectacular. Alot of junk. One dude was selling shoes. He had a sign saying “5 pounds per shoe, Find the matching shoe and get it half off”. I wish got a photo of that.

Then there was one vendor selling just buttons. These buttons were not cheap 3 pounds for 6 buttons? With conversion (2:1) that comes to $1 per button.

There’s alot of vendors selling flowers and fruit.

Portobello Market is much better for people watching than actually buying stuff.

Don’t feel like it’s necessary to go to the Portobello Market if you’re visiting London.

You can buy this Notting Hill photo and other London photos at:
http://unlikelymoose.com/art/photograph/london/notting_hill/7166.html

Saw this great play in Notting Hill at the The Gate called Tshepang. And we walked past the Notting Hill House and hung out around their library. Pretty neat place.

It’s a great place to visit…
If you want to have space to walk I’d advise not going on a market day though. Even though the portobello market is lovely :P

Sweet place to visit – market’s fun, nice shops, galleries, restaurants – but, as a place to live, it’s a horribly self-absorbed little neighborhood.

stayed there when i went to london with my field hockey team and had a blast. it was right during the notting hill festival, fun times!