London: Day Two

I am in a different Internet cafe today, right near Trafalgar Square, although I haven't made it to Trafalgar Square yet. My friend is making a phone call. So I'm doing this.

The most common thing people who e-mailed me told me to do was go to Portobello Market, so I did. Although the weather here is ideal for growing mushrooms (wet and cloudy), that's not what Portobello Market is about. Think fleamarket, but instead of in a big open field, it's down a long street. Perfect if you're looking for scraps of metal or broken dishes. Or at least dishes that would be broken by the time you get home. The American Accent Quotient (AAQ) was high. It was very busy with people looking at costume jewelry. Upside: cheap food. I had a chicken schnitzel on a roll with onions. It was good. Then some banana and corn fritters (they were separate fritters -- unlike the crisp flavors, they were not combined into one magical banana corn delight) from an Indian vendor. Good stuff. And I looked at produce, because, like I said yesterday, I am the only tourist in the world who would rather look at food than at art. It's bizarre, because I don't really eat that much, and I'm cool with eating cheap street crap, but I just find looking at food other people have that we don't to be interesting. A kid on the tube was eating Flame Grilled Steak flavored potato chips.

So. Walked around Portobello Market for a while, and then walked through a big green park in the pouring rain (where I discovered lemonade = carbonated. Weird.) and to the Victoria & Alberts museum, where the Uncompelling Art Quotient (UAQ) was relatively high. Although they had an exhibit on wrought iron gates that was pretty cool (believe it or not, I'm serious), and an exhibit on musical instruments that sounded better than it was. Also a very strange blue and green chandelier. Man, it's tough to be tourist when it pours all day.

Walked to Harrod's after that, a big department store not entirely dissimilar from Macy's. It was mobbed too. Walked through the perfumerie on the way in, but could not find the Power Toolerie to compensate for the lack of masculinitie. I mean masculinity. Also looked at more food.

Trafalgar Square is next. More touristy stuff to follow. If I was here next week, I'd go see a one-man show Dylan Moran is doing called Monster II. I saw Monster in New York over the summer sometime. He was funny. Alas, it doesn't open until November 1.

The tube is pretty slow compared to New York.