The Colours of London When the Skies Are Grey.

I’m learning fast about the weather in London. The sunny days are a rare blessing. I was lulled into a false sense of what spring in London meant when my first two days here were cool but sunny. Fortunately, the rain is mostly a light shower than anything torrential at the moment. Nothing that a mini umbrella and a strategically positioned hoodie can’t handle. The good thing about the rain for tourists like me is that the cloudy, grey skies added some interest to my holiday happy snaps by allowing the early spring colours at ground level to shine without any competition.

These posts are running the risk of sounding like paraphrased chapters of the Lonely Planet London (which I have faithfully adorned with labelled 3M coloured tabs and used the included map so many times already that it is wearing out in the folds). So today, I’m just going to show you my favourite photos from Saturday and have a general chat. I think it is actually Sunday morning in Australia so it will the perfect plan for a Sunday post.

My travels for the day were centred on two regions of London – the City and Notting Hill.

Tower of London as seen from the Trinity Square Gardens.

I began at the Tower of London. The Tower confronts you menacingly the moment you exit Tower Hill station. It’s really a fascinating place to visit and the audio tour is very informative. Booking ahead online saves you heaps of time rather than buying a ticket on the day. The Yeoman Warders conduct live tours several times a day but don’t on rainy days. I got to see both the Crown Jewels and the famous crows of the tower. There are also exhibits about the various kings and queens who met gruesome ends here as well as the varied purposes the towers have served over time.

A view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.

My favourite part of the visit though was being able to walk around the towers on my own. If those walls could talk, what stories they could tell. The differences in construction from one level to the next are a reminder to me that the construction of the site began over 1000 years ago.

My one woman journey through all the cafe chains of London continued with a visit to Paul for lunch. If you like your mochas made with actual melted chocolate, Paul is the place to go!

Paternoster Square, next to St Paul’s Cathedral and home to a Paul outlet.

St Paul’s Cathedral is as beautiful inside as it is on the outside. Aside from the intricate ceiling and the ornate carvings and sculpture, it is also a place of great spiritual beauty. Not only is the cathedral a focus of Christian worship, it plays a greater role in British society by promoting the equality of all faiths and being a place that unites everyone in times of crisis such as after the London bombings or post 9/11.

Magically, we had sun by the afternoon. Being the weekend, I took the opportunity to visit the Portobello Markets.

I clearly wasn’t the only visitor who had that idea that day. I think this hand written poster was an act of community service to spare the locals being hounded by market goers wondering why they still hadn’t seen the market after taking about 5 steps out of the metro exit (myself included).

When your front door matches the blossoms of the tree in your garden, you know you’re living on Portobello Road.

Where do I begin? Whilst the Borough Market is my favourite for food, Portobello shines because of its location in a residential area which embraces colour with such conviction I’m sure that’s the reason the sun shone on Saturday afternoon.

There are regular stores that line both side of Portobello Road but on the weekends, stall holders set up shop on the sidewalk in front of the permanent businesses. Just about any antique or retro item you could need to decorate your house can be found somewhere along the road.

The markets were heaving by the time I got there in the early afternoon. A leisurely browse was out of the question with so many people jostling along.

I’m going to abandon paragraphs for a bit and write captions instead. I think it tells the Portobello story a little better this way.