Boutiques and antiques

London is beautiful in the summer. Unlike Paris which is stunning all year round, London is a flower that needs the sun to blossom. And today was a gloriously sunny day with a gentle breeze. Perfect for doing what I should've done when I first got the wedding invite- acquire a suitable outfit and buy a gift, though to be fair I already had half the gift sorted out. I just needed a "box" to put it in. So I shed my recent hobo-traveller look, which I was starting to grow fond of, and donned my yellow trench and bashed up Rays. I was ready to face London and it's gazillion shops. Also I figured this would be the best way to deal with my jetlag and delay the onset of any post-travelling depression. So where to guv'nor?

The last time I went to Notting Hill was sometime last year. Couldn't see much of it as there was a carnival going on with lots of people covered in chocolate. Today was more civilised with people wandering in and out of boutiques and antique shops. Though I much prefer edgy Camden Town, I thought I'd have better luck with my task in the more refined Notting Hill. Made famous by the film of the same name, Notting Hill is now always swarmed with too many tourists blocking the narrow paths for photos, or just plain standing around and being an annoyance. Kinda like what I was for the last month. Nevertheless, Notting Hill is very pretty with it's pastel coloured terraced houses and numerous cafes, especially along Portobello Road.

I walked into a gorgeous shop called Yates Buchanan and met the lovely Katherine, who turns out not only to be from somewhere close to Cologne (her dad's from there) but also lived in Singapore many years ago. She gave me a whole load of dresses to try on. By the 12th gorgeous dress it dawned on me that a) the dresses I liked were a lot like the dresses I already owned, b) I was jetlagged and didn't want to try anymore dresses, and c) I still had to buy tix to Deutschland and hence ain't got the buckaroos to be splurging on pretty things, no matter how much I liked them, which was a lot. I said my goodbyes to the dresses and Katherine. A few doors down, was a lovely antiques shop that Christina would've loved, filled with wonders from China, Mongolia and Tibet. And! I found the rest of Samira's present. Result!

Feeling really amazingly good about my accomplishment, I thought I deserved a treat. So I strolled along Portobello Road, looked at old cameras, new clothes, quirky trinkets and there is was. Gail's. A french cafe with the most sumptuous delights that it took me 10 minutes to decide what to eat. Finally, I decided on the fruit salad as part of this detox programme I thought I may try out which involved eating a lot of fruits. I then ordered a blueberry-pistachio cake (blueberries= fruits) and a lemon drizzle cake (lemon= fruit). Unfortunately, instead of the blueberry-pistachio cake that I requested, they brought me a raspberry-almond cake. I was miffed. Until I took a bite. And the lemon drizzle. Di-vine. This detox programme is going to be so easy.