Markets

Sunday was market day! Rachel and I headed to the Columbia Road Flower Market (which is very close where she used to live) where we saw lots of gorgeous flowers. We popped into a shop that sold prints of Rob Ryan's work. Rob Ryan does paper cuts that are absolutely phenomenal. I loved his work. He had some books that had his work in it too, including one that I think looks really cute called This Is For You (http://www.amazon.com/This-You-Rob-Ryan/dp/0811868419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309733295&sr=8-1). Definitely check out his website if you get the chance  (http://www.misterrob.co.uk/).

Next, we stopped at an old-fashioned candy shop to pick up some munchies to eat as we walked through the crowd.

On a whim, Rachel suggested we go check out Seamus Ryan's Sunday Shoots. Here's a blurb taken from their website about the project: "Already well known internationally for his advertising and editorial work, photographer Seamus Ryan embarked on a unique series of portraits involving the general public in 2006. These projects, collectively known as Sunday Shoots, take place each Sunday in his studio (based in busy Columbia Road Flower Market, in London’s East End). Each Sunday hundreds of people visit the space to take part. These portrait projects attempt to reveal different aspects of personality, identity and spirit while at the same time exploring the myriad possibilities of portrait photography" (http://www.sundayshoots.com/about.htm). This Sunday the theme was flowers so Rachel and I stood amongst suspended dried flowers and got our portraits taken. The photos from today will be posted later this week.

We grabbed a bagel from a 24 hour bagel shop to eat as we pushed our way through the Hong Kong-esque crowds. I really did feel like I was back in Hong Kong, only everyone was taller and not all Asian. We went to the Sunday Up Market, the Pop-up Vintage Market, and the Brick Lane Market. There were some really neat things being sold, especially in the vintage market. We spent a lot of time going through things and touching a lot of clothes. It was really fun, but really exhausting. By four our feet were not happy with us so we headed to Spitalfield Market to meet Rachel's friends for drinks. We had pimms, a great summer drink. For those who don't know, pimms is a type of alcohol which is rarely served alone, so when you ask for a pimms, you get pimms mixed with lemonade (the British kind), cucumber, strawberries, mint, orange, and lime. It was very delicious and refreshing. It was fun to meet more of Rachel's friends. They were both Canadian and super nice.

After drinks, we went to a pub called The Champion in Notting Hill to meet up with my sister's friend Allie and her friend. We had a nice dinner and some delicious dessert. I had some scrumptious sticky toffee pudding, which was so rich and sweet. Rachel and I headed back to her flat to collapse and let our poor feet recover for the evening.


Tomorrow is a work day for Rachel, so I will venture out alone! We shall see how that goes....