London Photos are finally done!

Ok, I've finally got some of the photos sorted, sized and up so check them out. I hadn't realized how many photos we actually took until I tried to sort through them. The trip was awesome and again, I realized how much I loved London. It's such a terrific city to see a wide range of sites. We visited some of the museums, markets and tourist must sees like Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, etc.

Some of my absolute favorites were Portobello Road Market just because of the huge variety of things you could see and get from fruits and vegetables to heirloom silver. I stuck with some pashminas and stamps! We did visit Books for Cooks again where I found a couple of awesome titles that required me to lug them home in my backpack carry on. Like this one. And this one. Also, this one.

Another favorite destination was the British Museum. We visited there previously, but we took most of one day to check it out and really take our time. It was worth it since we were able to check it out several more rooms and really look at some old favorites. Including the "Living and Dying" room with this amazing Day of the Dead piece called "Apocalypse". This museum really has something for everyone and I especially love the Antiquities section with all the Egyptian pieces. I know there's a lot of controversy about these, but I'm staying out of it and just enjoying them. Another amazing thing about the museums that's very unlike here is that they are free and just request donations, which is the least we can do for such a privilege. After the museum, we visited a nearby pub, The Plough, for fish and chips and they were very tasty! Seriously, even the tartar sauce was yummy and this isn't a usual favorite of mine.

The final favorite of this post is Spitalfields Market. I was expecting a giant farmers market but instead, it's an urban art/craft market with tons of sellers with some amazing things. The market was ringed with some fairly upscale and yuppie shops like a Benefit Store and an organic chocolate shop. Both are yummy! This is also where Fairy Gothmother (as mentioned in previous post) can be found. Unlike Portobello Road, there wasn't an abundance of puppies wrapped in Pashminas!

OH! I almost forgot to mention "Liberty" which is the most amazing department store I've seen! It's in this incredible building that must take up almost a block and they have almost anything and everything you could want. Most of it was way too pricey and too impractical for the plane home, but I did find some soaps and a couple of Christmas items that I couldn't resist. My suitcase smelled great by the time we got home. And yes, it's this suitcase (tattoo) we had to get in order to lug everything home! But I love it and incredibly enough, it has the University of Texas symbol over it. It was meant to be!
Edited to remove some photos since it was jacking up the blog!