Weekend in Pictures

To all that heard about the big scary fire in north London over the weekend (and all who heard of my ignorance of the fire until dad checked to see if i was alive), good news: I am, indeed, alive. I was nowhere near Camden Markets when the blaze went up, though I have a good friend who lives right there and snapped some photos. It really was a giant fire. I was scared that the markets would be ruined forever, and since I've yet to get up there to visit them, would never get to. Rest assured, the markets are still there, and will still offer some of the coolest up and coming fashions for cheap prices.
(EDIT: Did you all hear Amy Winehouse give that shout out to Camden Town at the Grammy's? She's the greatest!)

After getting yelled at for being an airhead about what's going on around me, I decided to fight back and show you all what a normal (sort of) weekend really is in my life. Remember, I warned you last time, each day gets weirder and weirder here. And so, my weekend in pictures:

SATURDAY MORNING, 10 AM: Street Market, Notting Hill

Portabello Road Market is probably the most famous of the open-air markets in London. It's in Notting Hill. We went Saturday when the sun was shining and the temperatures hit 60.



Notting Hill houses! The happiest place in the world.

Food stands.


Cheese!


Mmmm



Homeless man with dog on his back

Breakfast of Champions!

Circa 11 AM. Mmmm....

Cheap fake leather bags! She got two for 20!

Cool graffiti bridge, tube, and blue skies overhead.

Vats of Paella.

The cutest place in the whole world, Notting Hill.

You would only want to buy these at Notting Hill or Disney World. I'm convinced they're one in the same.

She's a shopaholic. I managed to scoop up a cute spring jacket for 10!

You just want to smile all over the place here.

As we left the market to go home, we found hundreds of people in costumes the flooding tube station, drunk. It was about noon time. These women were dressed as construction workers with painted mustaches on their faces. Others outside this frame were in ape costumes. Unbeknownst to us, it was New Zealand day in London. Drunken revelers accompanied us all the way home. This may seem weird, and it was, but last Saturday was Australia day, which was the same thing but actually even weirder and drunker and less expected. This is seriously why I love London. You just never know what's going to happen, and like really, why the heck wouldn't you dress up like an ape and get drunk at noon for New Zealand? Why the heck not?

The best dinner I've had since getting here, thanks to the glorious Portabello Road Market. Who needs real plates anyway?

SATURDAY NIGHT, 10PM: Flat Party with a Random British Theme

(Mom wanted pictures of my British friends-- these are only a handful but I'll keep posting more, promise!)

Me and British Lauren

The theme was Mighty Boosh if anyone wants to Wikipedia it. Even if this hadn't been a themed party, I would not have been surprised to see someone dress like this at a flat party. That's the British for you.

British Natalie and British James

British Rebecca sideways

SUNDAY, 10:30 AM: Chinese New Year Parade, Trafalgar Square

Queen Mary Chinese Students Association. QM REPRESENT

The parade was pretty underwhelming, to be honest.

Luckily... we had heard of something else going on down the street and wandered over to check it out....

SUNDAY, 3PM: British Academy Awards, National Opera House, Covent Garden

We had heard it was going on, so we wandered over....

We saw them setting up, and thought, hey, we should go to this.

We don't like waiting in lines like normal people, so we found a secret spot and befriended the security guards.

Ryan Seacrest showed up first, and the crowd went wild for him.

Cuba Gooding Jr. came next.

Then Daniel Radcliffe AKA Harry Potter

Harry Potter himself.

Anthony Hopkins with Kate Hudson in the background

Kate Hudson was really cool

Kiera Knightly, who didn't win, but is still great!

Orlando Bloom for the money shot of the night.

Okay, so that was my weekend. Cassandra and I kept marvelling at how we weren't even surprised by a lot of the things because of everything weird that happens every day to us. Overall though, a very cool weekend. So yeah, sorry I didn't hear about the fire, and I only get my news from free tabloids handed out on the Tube on weeknights, but don't you worry folks, I'm living up London every single second. I promise.

And thanks for the concern for my safety, too! :)