London, episode 17. In which I'm just a boy, standing in front of a book shop.

It occurred to me while looking back through my travel photos and scrapbooks (and envelopes stuffed with scrapbooks-yet-to-be) that I haven't shared much about UK fleamarkets in this here fleamarketing travel blog. Sorry about that, but our first two London visits were full of wide-eyed sightseeing as you might expect and just a little souvenir shopping.

After that first Spring Break trip in 2007, when our appetite was whetted for a return visit, I made it a point to inscribe "Portobello Road" on our future London itinerary. Like Paris' Les Puces de Saint Ouen, London's Portobello Road Antiques Market is legendary and after our first visit during London2012, we found it to be legendarily overwhelming.

We managed a visit (finally!) to London's famed Portobello Road in Notting Hill on our last day at London2012. It was Saturday, the final full day of action, with the (impossible-to-secure-tickets) Closing Ceremony the following evening. Mari and I had a full agenda including back-to-too-close-back afternoon and evening events.

At top, I am posing my best Hugh Grant (sans floppy hair) on our most recent outing. I don't think I need to explain how much Mari and I enjoy Grant's and Julia Roberts' little movie. Whenever we begin to grow nostalgic over our favorite city or suddenly crave a quick glimpse of some favorite London locales, in goes the DVD of that oft-watched 1999 rom-com gem to assuage our longings.

Next, I am sporting my favorite shirt (yet again) on the morning of August 11, 2012. We were just getting started on our inaugural browse down Portobello Road along with a few (hundred) out-of-towners when we decided to commemorate the occasion with a selfie.

On that first visit Mari and I spent most of our time simply trying to navigate the thronged thoroughfare which was barely passable. Saturdays are the busiest days on Portobello Road, with all shops, stalls, and street vendors open for business.

There also happened to be a few (hundred thousand) extra visitors in town on that particular Saturday.

We spent most of our limited time with the street vendors, but Mari did make her way into an overwhelmingly overflowing jewelry shop glistening with a bounty of baubles and a trove of trinkets. As you round that first corner onto the start of Portobello from Pembridge Road, you will find Mari's favorite shop glistening its finest enticements through full-length glass display windows.

Several additions to Mari's Leah Stein pin collection have found their way from this corner shop to a lovingly curated collection on daily display in our home.

These two photographed pins are Portobello picks.

Ever the cat lover, Mari adopted the feline pin immediately during our Olympics Saturday visit. Intensified through the celluloid from which the pin is sculpted, its rich black color emerges as sharp and as intense as those eyes that remind me so much of the first pet Mari and I shared, our beautifully silky black tabby who lived with us nearly 12 years. I don't need to see this pin to remind myself of the loving memories I have of Pelona, but I do love gazing at it.

The cicada pin may not stimulate similar sentiment, but Stein's elegant interpretation of the familiar insect is equally luminous in its simply textured architecture.

We'll come back to Portobello again next time when I share a few picks of my own (and maybe another collection to add to the growing list), but let's get back to the main events of that Saturday.

When you purchase tickets up to 16 months in advance of an Olympics event, you don't know who you will be there to support. Although there are always favorites in any sport, the competitors are not decided until after the Olympic Games are underway, of course, so there really is no way of knowing if your favorite athlete, team, or country will be represented at your ticketed event.

Among my favorite souvenirs of any of our trips are the colorful tickets (still awaiting scrapbooking) pictured at left. I am forever grateful that they were never torn, punched, or otherwise marked by ticket takers at the venues.



These were the final two event tickets for our London2012 trip. I think the colors, artwork, and graphics are a standout collaboration and the tickets themselves, of course, have far greater sentimental value than the marked prices. I wanted you especially to notice the start times at the top of each ticket and how these times are only three and a half hours apart. Notice now the locations under each sport: North-west London and West London.

What the heck was I thinking?!

Despite leaving the men's football (soccer) final before the medal ceremony, Mari and I only made it to our seats at Earls Court after the US women had built up a considerable lead in the first game of what would eventually become a four-game loss against the formidable come-from-behind Brazil team. While I have no strategic advice for the disappointed US volleyball team, I can offer any future Olympic Games tourists some simple planning advice: don't overplan. Don't overschedule and definitely do schedule events far enough apart so that you have plenty of time to comfortably travel between venues. A careful study of the detailed events schedule on the CoSport website and a realistic look at a local map are an essential part of your planning strategy.

Our two Category B tickets (Category A being the most exclu$ive of the four available categories) were for Saturday afternoon's highly-anticipated men's football final, which had been fashioning itself from very early on into an unforgettable battle between heavily-favored Brazil and the very aggressive Mexican underdog. With both Mexican and Brazilian roots between the two of us, Mari and I were brimming with anticipation as we tubed towards Wembley Stadium after a quick fish and chips lunch following our massively mobbed morning of fleamarketing.

Before I forget, The Fish House in Notting Hill is most definitely worth a visit for shopping sustenance and to enjoy an excellent interpretation of a touristy local favorite.

fishhouse-nottinghill.com

I'll wrap up our London2012 experience next time as I share the excitement (but not so much the colorful Portuguese commentary) of the men's football final at Wembley.