Sep 27 2009: Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane, and a Hairdryer

Sep 27, 2009 by Rochelle

Sunday morning we were feeling just a little bit rough around the edges from our activities form the night before. But I will tell you that being at a lower altitude definitely helped matters. Our plan for the day involved more shopping and then trying to visit Kensington Palace in the afternoon.

So we once again had a lovely breakfast in our hotel and then we were on the Tube and headed east to Liverpoole station. Much like how my mom wanted to visit Portobello Road, Marissa wanted to visit the Spitalfields Market and the Brick Lane Market. Both of which have their busiest days on Sunday. I was nervous again about large crowds and the heat, but it turned out to be okay.

We first walked over to Spitalfields Market. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what it turned out to be. This large and airy market was covered and clean with nice facilities and lots of places to take a rest and get a snack. The stalls were nice and interesting. I will be honest and say that it was a bit more yuppyish and maybe that’s why I was comfortable there. I’m lame, I know.

Loved the more open feel of this market.

I had a nice rest and diet coke at a coffee shop called The Daily Grind. They had wireless there too, so I was able to make some phone calls over skype.

There's a "Daily Grind" in Pueblo too.

From Spitalfields we walked a few blocks to Brick Lane. Another open air market, this time with a very urban and young feel. Youngsters (like my sister), sold old clothes and other “vintagey” things. The Brick Lane area also had a lot of Indian food, and similar region cuisine, restaurants. It was so tempting to sit down and partake, but we pushed through.

It all looked and smelled so good!

Marissa had it on her agenda to visit Rough Trade records, and so we found it and ventured in. There was a fun vibe in the shop, even if a lot of the folks visiting were taking themselves a little too seriously. My sister searched through the vinyl bins and I sort of floated around. I found a seat (yes, I’m that lazy…seats were like gold to me), and started reading a flyer about their record of the week, an album called Warm Heart of Africa by The Very Best. It was such a happy and pleasant story and it was an album recorded in East London, not far from where we were. I went to a listening station and sampled it. I loved it. Such a happy album. So I bought it. Yes, I bought something! Now my sister tells me that I was ahead of the times, because it got picked for Pitchfork Media’s pick of the week, even though it’s not even released here yet. See how cool I am?

Rough Trade was a off a side street of Brick Lane.

Anyway, after Rough Trade, we continued down Brick Lane, but the crowds were overwhelming again and I had more than one local tell me that I should watch my backpack because of pickpockets. We squeezed through the masses to get into a vintage clothes shop. Sadly for my sister, her time had run out and we needed to get back to the West End. We fought a little bit about the whole thing, but made up pretty quickly. I just couldn’t take it anymore.

A woman selling some goods.

Back on the Tube, we were totally exhausted again. We got off at Queensway, which was the stop nearest our hotel, and then walked up the road to find some dinner. We had missed out on Kensington Palace again, and so I was little bummed. But we resolved that we would definitely fit it in on Tuesday. We found an Indian Food restaurant that was really nice, super delicious, and not crowded in the least. We went all out and spent a lot of money. Well worth it in my opinion.

Now, if you’ve been following my story, you’ll know by this point that my hair had sucked thus far because I was without a straightening iron. I couldn’t take it anymore and so I asked our waiter where I could find a place to buy one. He recommended a shop across the street. So after dinner, we found ourselves walking through a very interesting market that had lots of different little shops. We finally found a man selling electronics and purchased a hair straightener that looked like it had fallen off the truck if you know what I mean. I didn’t care. I was just happy that my hair was going to be good once again in the near future…

…well it would look good again after harassing the hotel staff for a proper hair dryer. Yes, I became the ugly American. You see, after dinner we went back to the hotel to get some rest, make long phone calls, and take showers. I washed my hair and tried to dry it with the crappy hair dryer again. After the first time it shut off (two minutes in), I called to ask for a new one and ASAP. I basically got brushed off. I tried again to get it to dry my hair. Nope. So with a half wet head and in my pajamas, I went down to the lobby and demanded a new hair dryer. Ten minutes later, a man knocked on our door and offered me another crappy hair dryer. The same kind of hair dryer that I had been using. I begged him to find me a different one, and within a minute he came back with a fancy hotel hairdryer that was far better than the one I have at home. I was delighted and told him that he was my favorite person and he replied “you are my favorite person” in an Indian accent. He was adorable.

So yes, I was able to do my hair, and it made all the difference in the world, which was good because we had a big day ahead of us.

More pictures from that day: