Things I Like and the Not So Much: Portobello Road and Camden, London

I figured I should kinda start dating things before I totally forget everything!

Before we left Portobello Road (and after I totally. like. resisted. buying. a cute little leather keychain shaped like CHERRIES!!), I saw a neato lil corner:

I love the eclecticism of London architecture. I think what first caught my eye were all the flags in the windows, and they also had loads of Asian accents inside. No idea what that big thing on the corner of the building is supposed to be, but there were figures of children all over it. I think at first I thought it was a giant peacock with tail.

So I crossed the street to take better pictures of it and then I saw ... apparitions!!!

Aaaauuugh!! A ghost in the window!!! Staring a baneful, deathly glare. I like watching people in windows. (My name is Luka - I live on the second floor ...)

And then!!! He left and she came. And stood there. And looked. And I took a couple shots. Then she smiled in this one (you probably can't see it too well) but about 2 seconds after I took this picture she started waving at me across the street, which was pretty cute. I might need to go try that restaurant next time I'm in town. Friendliness in a foreign country is super nice.

Then Lex suggested we head on over to Camden. By then shops were closed and stuff but it was still kinda of interesting. We did go there again later in the summer, before I flew back to the States, and it is totally different during the day when things are open - I almost kind of like things better quiet, and deserted. You can wander around and not be aggravated by hordes of peepholes.

A lot of the shop facades had giant things above them, such as ...

We headed on over to an older part of the street, and wandered in towards little cafes, and shops, and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Towards the back we came upon this:

I love antiques, but pretty much nothing was open at that time of day anymore. I guess in the olden days it really did used to be a horse hospital, and after they converted it to quaint (and actually, very Goth and super vampy/trendy/pricey) shopping, they retained the name. I felt quite an affinity for all the stonework and the old buildings and stuff. They'd converted the old stables into various antique and global goods-type shops.

I love this view!! Maybe they used to use it to lead sick, ailing, lame horses to the two different levels. It makes me wonder what it used to be like back in the day.

So we walked around the back, and started back towards the front, and I saw this cute little red rick-shaw!! It was outside this store that ended up being HUGE inside (when I went back later), with stuff from Africa and hand-wrought copper sculptures (neato seashell-shaped candlestick that I thought was £17 but was actually like £300 or something, ha) inside. So I took a pic.

Then I walked around and looked again and got a huge shock, cuz seriously:

What the heck, dudes. I mean, what is that supposed to mean?? How macabre. And amusing. Because I think there was a monkey in there as well. And maybe even a shrunken head.