Travels: A Notting Hill kind of day

Notting Hill is just like the movie.

Set in West London.  Offbeat.  Colorful (characters).  A real neighborhood.  Market stalls.  Entertainment on every corner.  Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.  Charming mews.  An ecclectic combination of the past and  present.  Large Victorian townhomes, some divided into apartments (Like the one Hugh Grant had in Notting Hill, the movie).  And the Travel Bookstop.

I love to spend time in Notting Hill soaking it all in.

On my recent visit to London, like always, I  plan my Saturday morning around this fun adventure. The winding road through town, Portobello Road, fills to the brim with wanderers in search of of a treasure at this world-famous antique market. It is where I decided some years ago that I would start a collection of  antique magnifying glasses, mostly from the Victorian period or older.  I have 14 of them arranged on an antique pine table in my living room.  That is a lot of trips to London!  It is also where I purchased a lap desk with hand written music in the drawer.  Turns out that the owner was a music director of a church in the 1800's.  His pens and ink were still the desk.  And one of my favorite treasures from Portobello market, a set of opera glasses with a pearl handle.  I use them for every Broadway show that I see.  

Notting Hill is a place where the rich and famous, artsy and regular people live and work.  The food stalls on Saturday are nothing short of amazing with every smell (all good) imaginable and lots of pretty flowers to take home.  It is also a world class place to people watch.  Just like in the movie.  Like most of England, this is an area that has my heart and most Saturdays, I wake up thinking I wish I could take a stroll down Portobello Road.   I could always use another Victorian magnifying glass.