London Goods

I was looking at some pictures in older files that I never posted about my awesome finds in London.  Well, here it is.   I got this burlap sack from this awesome store called Labour&Wait in the Old Street/Shoreditch area.   I love this piece because Sheffield happens to be the name of the street that we live in, I realize this after we bought it.

 We got this small vintage hammer and bottle opener from a vendor in the Spitafield Market in Shoreditch

This meter instrument was a part of a WWII British airplane and we got it at the Portabello Market.  Funny thing about this piece was when we were going through customs in Canada, we were held and checked by customs because the bag that this meter was in was flagged for radiation.  Apparently some parts of the meter instrument had radium in it which set off the radiation scanner, at least that was what the case officer told us.  Anyways, the amount of radiation is tiny and not harmful, unless you lick it.  That's what he said. 

We got these old letter press blocks from the Portabello Market.  Can't find them anywhere in Portland.

And finally this manual month and day thing.  I don't exactly now what to call it.  But it's cool though, we got it in Shoreditch.

London: Old Street / Shoreditch

One of my favorite areas that we went to while we were in London was this triangular area in between the Old Street Station, Brick Lane and the Boundary Estate circle.  This area was pretty cool because there were many public displays of art everywhere, like this dude floating on a cloud below.  The buildings were a combination of new and old industrial-turned-into commercial buildings which featured many stores and studios.  It turns out that this area also houses many of the major design firms in London so that was pretty cool.  Anyways, there were many material for me to take pictures of in this area which made me happy. 

I love this store front display.

Nana with the public arts.

One thing that I noticed that London has way more of compared to the U.S. is that there are CCTV security cameras in every single block of London. I'm not familiar with the crime rate at all or if people are just very protective of their property, but there are so many of them. I'm shocked at how many I saw, I'm even afraid of jay walking. Well, just kidding, everyone jay walked in London.

I love this piece. Nice.

One of the coolest and most favorite store that we went to in London was this store called Labour and Wait.  This store had an awesome collection of home goods and unique items.  We bought several stuff here which I will post later.  But hats off to this store, truly an awesome store. I wouldn't mind having a house which looks like the Labour and Wait. 

The woman in the city.

London Eye

The first time I've seen the London Eye was only through pictures, and I though ok, it's pretty cool.  But when I was in London and saw the London Eye in person, I thought to myself, "oh my goodness, who thought of making this giant bicycle wheel?"   Not that I didn't like it, but it was more of like an amazement, I couldn't believe how huge this thing was.  Just look at how small that person is in the picture below compared to the London Eye.  Truly amazing for me, I could watch this giant wheel spinning for hours, maybe even bring a sleeping bag next time and take a nap in the surrounding park like a bum.

London: Carnaby

In London, I did many walks by myself while the family was going shopping.  One of the places I accidentally ran into was Carnaby (SOHO) and the whole area between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.  This area was pretty cool because it was all small roads and alley ways, so there were no cars.  The area consisted of many brand name shops, restaurants, and coffee shops.  It's just a nice place to walk around in, but gets pricey when you go shopping.  

I love this alley.

Fast or Die??

The Lomography store was one of my favorites, they have so many cool things in there.  The wall decor is awesome.

This Levi's Vintage Clothing in Carnaby was another cool store.  Being a big Levi's fan, I had to check out what items they had.  All their clothes are really vintage from the 50's-80's and cost a lot. 

And of course G-Star Raw, my all time-but can't afford-clothing brand.  I try to visit every G-Star clothing store in every place I travel to.   I love the new summer collection.

Carnaby, what a nice place.

London: Tate Modern

If you like going to museums, then London is the perfect place for you to go.  Most of their museums are free and they're not just some cheap small museums, they're huge and the buildings themselves is a piece of art.  One of the most unique museums I went to in London and possibly my life is the Tate Modern.  If I could have a museum as a place to live in, it would definitely be Tate Modern.  The building itself use to be a power station which was closed down in the 80's.  Now, it's a gallery showing modern collections of art. 

The space above is probably my favorite part of Tate Modern.  It consist of a huge vaulted ceiling with these rectangular slits along the back wall letting light into the space.  This shot right here was used as the Ministry of Arts in the movie Children of Men when Theo was visiting his cousin who lives there.  That was a good movie by the way, definitely one of my all time favorites.

The North entrance of Tate Modern.  Yes people, go enjoy art for free. 

London: Portabello Market Duo

In the antiques part of Portabello Market, there were many specialty vintage camera store which just made me drool.  It's not fair that there's no place like this in Portland.  It's amazing how a dealer could have all these old cameras.  I bought one of these cameras just to keep me sane and the cool thing is that it came with the original leather camera bag.

I still can't get over the fact how crowded the streets were that day.  Incredible

London: Portabello Market Uno

Portabello Market in London was another one of my favorite places I went to.  Especially the part of the market where there were many antique vendors and stores.  I could just bring a sleeping bag and live in Portabello Market; that is how much I love that place.  There were definitely many vintage and antiques items that I wanted to get, some were affordable while some were quite expensive.  Some of the items I purchased was a vintage camera and old printing letter blocks.  In the picture above, there was a store called Stumper&Fielding which is a cool clothing/items store.  Mostly I like their name, very similar to Random&Keila.

Again, the whole day we were there, the streets were constantly crowded like in the picture above. Incredible.

There were seven sections that make up Portabello Market.  It took us the whole day to reach the end of the market. 

Vintage Car Issue: London

There were a couple cool classic cars that I saw when I was walking towards Portabello Road from Notting Hill Gate.  I love the red mini cooper above, probably my favorite. Below is another cool old car, but I don't know what brand it was.  Finally the last car is not even a classic car, but Ferrari's are still cool and it's in gray, my favorite color.