The markets of London

Crazy white-painted man at 'Meet the English Rugby Players' event in Regent's Park

Spitalfields Market, East London

The Petticoat Lane markets in East London

Petticoat Lane markets

The International Curry Festival on Brick Lane, East London

Julia in front of one of the restaurants celebrating the International Curry Festival - those are some crazy chairs

More 'International Curry Festival' restaurants

Roses in Queen Mary Gardens in Regent's Park

Flower bed in Regent's Park
Shaun on road leading out of Regent's Park

Spot the English rugby player....(Jason Robinson, in the blue top in the middle of the photo) . At the 'meet the players' event in Regent's Park

In Regent's Park

Look closely to see what Shaun thinks of English rugby...

Flower gardens in Regent's Park

Dinner with Steph and Sally in Notting Hill

The Camden Markets

Doc Martens store amongst the Camden Markets

Food stalls at the Camden Lock Markets

The Camden Lock Markets

Last Friday we had dinner with Steph and Sally, at a pizza restaurant in Notting Hill, we managed to catch them in between finishing their Contiki and going to Greece. It was great to hear all about their adventures on the Contiki and see some of the photos, and hear a glowing review of what Contiki has to offer! It made us very keen to get out and explore more of Europe.

For the past two weekends we have decided to make the most of the reasonably good weather and visit some of the markets in London. The first Sunday we ventured to the Camden Markets, in North London. These markets are huge, and attract huge crowds as well. The footpaths were overflowing with people, as were all the little alleyways. We walked through one section, with long rows of stalls selling all sorts of clothes, and didn't even realise that this was just the tip of the iceberg! We walked further down the road to find the Camden Lock Market, which is full of old buildings and walkways so it feels like it has been a market forever. There are stalls selling everything - food, clothes, shoes, candles, photos, jewellery, etc, etc......There is also a big section selling antiques and furniture. A lot of the stores have a strong 'punk-rock' theme, one is even the first Doc Marten store, so this makes for some interesting characters walking around.

After visiting the markets we walked to Regents Park, and stumbled upon the English Rugby team, as part of a huge 'meet the players' event. Shaun managed to spot Jason Robinson. The queues to actually meet the players were monstrously long, so we by-passed these and wandered around trying to spot Johnny Wilkinson (I was anyway, just because he is the only one I would recognise) Sadly no spotting of Johnny, although he did appear on the big screen being interviewed. We then walked around the beautiful gardens in the park, including 'Queen Mary's Gardens' which is full of beautiful roses.

The next market we tackled was the Brick Lane markets, in East London. These are also massive,and actually include 4 separate markets - the Brick Lane Market, the Petticoat Lane Market, the Spitalfields market and the Sunday Upmarket. We managed to see all these markets, each with their own theme, one specialising in cheap clothes and shoes, another was more like a flea market, and yet another was a lot of young designers selling cool hand-made jewellery and clothes. There was so much amazing stuff, it was incredible the variety of products on sale. Brick Lane also specialises in curry-houses (Indian restaurants), with heaps of them in a row, and we even managed to visit while the International Curry Festival was on!

At the moment, everyone in our flat is closely following the Rugby World Cup, and there was a crowd of Kiwi's present to watch the All Blacks play an excellent game against Italy. Although at the moment the tension is low, I am sure this is going to build as we get closer to playing either Australia or South Africa...go the All Blacks! And go the Warriors, it's just a matter of faith and the young boys will be a lot better for the experience of last week (from Shaun)