Fleas and friends

The Porte de Clignancourt flea market is perhaps one of the best shopping experiences ever. It would have been even more fabulous if I actually had disposable income. :) Below are some treasures of the market which is made up of more urban vendors (shoes, clothing) on the outside and an antique mall inside. I never did get my Michael Jackson tribute shirt, but hope to find one in my size around the city.

Oddities I really wanted to buy.

The most wonderful part of the day was having the opportunity to see Blythe and Gunnar, my friends who live in Germany. They came just to see me! Thanks guys!!! Blythe made me a cat pal (totally from scratch) for Ms. Penny. What a wonderful gift, I still cannot believe she did it herself. Ms. Penny is now with Blythe. On her way back to Germany she got to go camping and visit a monastery/brewery. This is incentive for me to go see Blythe in Cologne to retrieve her so she can experience the USA.
Ms. Penny meeting Minerva for the first time. They shall be reunited soon I hope!

Like a kid again

Today is the last day in London. ARGH! A fine wrap-up, however, as I got to play in the Diana Princess of Whales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. Adults (without a child) are only allowed to "play" between 9:30-10am, so this was a rare occasion. As you can see Ms. Penny is helping me stear the ship. See, she's alive and well-not baked in a pie.


I decided to be captain of the ship!

After walking through Kensington and Hyde parks I went to Harrod's which blew me away with their food court and toy store. I bought my little cousin her very own Paddington Bear traveler edition so she can hopefully be inspired to escape Detroit like cousin Heather.

I'm very sad to leave London. I've really grown accustom to the politeness and character of the city. I've been without the restraint of televisions or cell phones for two weeks and do not miss it one bit. Adaption usually comes very fast for me, but I have a tendency to develop a sort of reverse-homesickness when I leave Europe. I'm fully prepared for the depression that will set in when I get back home. Max and Early will snap me out of it. I do miss them so!!!

Photo story in 5 pictures

Ms. Penny went to Hampton Court today and had herself quite the adventure. Please do not worry about Ms. Penny as cats do have 9 lives. Follow Ms. Penny's 8th life here at Kat's blog.

A good day of sightseeing for the librarians...

I know there is a mix of people reading this blog, but a good majority will be librarians. Today was packed full of sights of particular interest to anyone in the profession.

Today was spent at Oxford, a place ripe with location shooting from the Harry Potter series of films, as well as a myriad of others. Of special interest was The Bodleian Library. Photos are not allowed in the actual library, so I cannot reproduce the magnificence for you here but you can watch the movies.

In an attempt to pick up any creative remnants that might exist in the ethereal plane I ate at The Eagle & Child pub. J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would meet here weekly to eat, drink and discuss writing. Below is a small peek inside.


Here is Ms. Penny posing next to the Eagle & Child menu for me.

Lastly I visited The Kilns, home to C.S. Lewis in Headington, just outside Oxford. The home has been restored thanks to the C.S. Lewis Foundation's hard work and voluntary hours. The gardens are magnificent and, while the home seems small from the outside, the floor plan seems to be a maze of bedrooms, studies, etc.

This photo was taken of the replacement wardrobe thought to be the inspiration behind Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Framed on the wall is a photo of the supposed original.

Coach tour=busy day!

Incredibly jammed packed day as usual. :) We had another great tour hosted by Hugh (of yesterday's Historical walking tour) on a coach. The tour of Central London included St. Paul's Cathedral, a walk by the Thames with a nice view of the Parliament, Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus and much more. The highlight was definitely seeing the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.




The latter half of the day I shopped around Camden Market which was one of the key things I wanted to do while I was here. I found a nice mascot which I call, "Ms. Penny". Here is a pic of her touring Camden Market.