Out Today,

but before we leave,

  an quick photograph of the Rhododendron in the garden of the Gate House,

 on to the train, the great news about being here is that all London and up to about 12 miles from the centre of London transport on trains, buses and underground is free for myself, the bad news is that I have to be old to  receive the perk! so here we are,

 outside Victoria railway station,

 on to the top deck of the bus and we are off,

 and soon waiting to pass the Victoria Palace,

 next the Albert Memorial, 

 and the Albert Hall,

 we sat at the front of the bus, 

 so we had a great view of the buildings and streets, looking at here at one of the capitols 13 cabmen's shelters, 

 and here we were,

 starting our walk to the Portobello Road market,

 in no time at all we were walking past shops,

 selling new and old goods,

 it has to be said the market is busy with many more shops and stalls at the weekends, but it is of course packed with people,

 I am guessing looking at the sign this shop sign goes back to the beginning of the 20 century,

 even though many shops are closed, the range of bits and pieces on offer is huge,

 we made our way up the slight hill,

 shops that were closed still had tables outside of them,

 at one time the area was very run down,

 but not so now,

 and of course we had to by a refrigerator magnet,

 an iced drink anyone?

 we had seen a similar clothes shop to this in Brighton, where the display in the window consisted of scores of sewing machines, and this was another of the company's 50 or so branches, the company is call the British 'AllSaints Spitalfield' the brand of clothing was launched back in 1994 and was named after All Saints Road in Notting Hill,

 on and on we walked,

 an amazing shop, just selling door handles, so specialised, I wonder how many a day they have got sell to keep all of the bills paid?

 having looked at all of the open shops,

 we made a move to the bus stop to go to Camden Market, but first passed these attractively painted terraced houses on the way,

 that were in Denbigh Terrace,

 as well as this huge rosebush that had the most attractive aroma,

 nearing the market a Ducati roared by,

 nearly there,

 and just outside of the market, this very differently liveried van,

 and here we were Camden Market,

 as we walked into the main entrance, stalls stretched away to the right,

 facing us a section to sit and eat, with stalls behind the area selling food,

 steps lead downstairs to one of the huge sales areas,

 but first breakfast/lunch,

 a Mexican for Diana,

 a full plate to say the least!

 for myself a steak in a bun,

 with potatoes, 

 whilst eating a photoshoot was going on, 

 breakfast/lunch over,

 it was time to start our tour, 

 the cyborgs outside of this store,

 reminded me so much of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis,

 a great play on words, and as the shops namesake, (Mods), they really did have some sharp fashions, so sharp I nearly bought a suit!

 Diana just had to have a pose,

 it looks deserted, but this is a alleyway of food stalls, although we had eaten, the aromas, yummy!

 we went into one of the covered sales areas,

 and out again,

 this bicycle looked so different to the one I used to own in the 1950s!

 downs stairs,

 to the Stables,

 so many stalls here, above and behind them, 

 a relief of horsemen,

 and at ground level one more,

 here is an indoor mini golf course, never taken up the hobby myself but it sort of looks fun,

 back to the stalls,

 so much to choose from,

 and some so brightly coloured,

 like this top, 

 we made our way to the exit by the stalls,

 and started walking towards Camden Lock,

 passing some of the local landmarks on the way,

 and here we were at the lock, on the right the lock is nearby,

 on the left hand side, the lock in the distance,

 both of which are on the Regents Canal,

 past the bridge over the canal, another All Saints shop bursting with sewing machines,

 walking to the underground station, we were both amazed to see so many shops with 3D decorations on the shop fronts,

 like this one,

 Dark Angel,

 and there she is,

 we should have waited until we were here to buy our refrigerator magnet,

 an oddly named public house,

 The Elephants Head,

 back to the shops,

 with all manner of exterior decoration,

 4 feet and what do you see? 4 feet!

 it would be a good guess to say the owners of this shop, 

 are Asian,

 another outdoor market,

 and another market almost opposite,

when we arrived at The World's End,

 we were almost at the underground station, so off to Victoria, on to the mainline, past Millwall,

and we were home, refrigerator magnet in place it was feet up far a evening snack, we watched a few quiz shows, then both programs about the Chelsea Flower Show, that were on BBC 1 and BBC 2, we were going to spend a day there, but when we saw that the tickets were £107 each we decided against it, I suppose if we had a garden and were keen gardeners we might have paid, but £214 for both of us was just too much, still I guess the high prices had the desired effect, it keeps the hoi polloi like us out! we rounded off the evening with 2 more episodes of Game of Thrones, we are only making one post today as we are out for a early drive in the morning and a afternoon cream tea, so with that we were off to bed.