a Notting Hill weekend

This weekend my friend Ryan from LA came to London to visit! Saturday was a beautiful day and we went to Kew Gardens. We walked all over the grounds which were really pretty. I got some great pictures but unfortunately I spilled water on my camera part way through our walk and now the camera won't turn on! Once I get the pictures off I will post them. After Kew we headed to Notting Hill and Portabello Road market.

While we were there we decided to hunt down a few of the landmarks from the moving, "Notting Hill." First we found the original travel book shop. This was the one used as the model for the actual store used in the movie. The inside looked a lot like the one in the movie. (I got these pictures off my camera phone). Then we headed to find the blue door a few streets down. It's no longer painted blue because too many people were knocking on the door, but we found it anyway!On Sunday we went to the Southbank to visit the Tate Modern and see Othello at Shakespeare's Globe. The play was amazing, although I have to admit if I hadn't read the synopsis beforehand I would have been very lost. The actor who played Iago, the main villain in the story, was actually an actor from Notting Hill! He was the husband of the lady in the wheelchair. It took me a few minutes to figure it out but it was definitely him.

We didn't see Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts but it was still a Notting Hill weekend...