Lord's, Portobello Markets, the World Cup begins

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Ahhh a morning without a wake-up call, scheduled breakfast and early departure! Bliss!

First stop this morning was Lillywhites to find Todd an Australian jersey for the first game. We had looked before the tour but there were none. We were disappointed to find out they still had no stock!

Next stop was the post office. We walked down to lower Regent St and asked the post office how much it would cost to send stuff home. The PO told us it worked out cheaper to send stuff in lots of 2kg parcels than one big 6kg parcel. We arranged our stuff in 2kg bunches but then were told all boxes were sold out! We then walked to Trafalgar Square PO and sent our stuff from there. Finally after 30 or so minutes everything was sent. It worked out about 9 pounds for each parcel....ahhh room for more stuff to buy!

From Trafalgar Square we caught the tube to Lord's Cricket Ground. The tour started at 12 and we arrived at the train station about 11.50am. We ran down the main street and were lucky enough to make it (though terribly sweaty and puffed out!) The tour was really interesting (even though I am not a big cricket fan). I could tell Todd loved it...he was so focused on the guide's every word! After the 1.5hr tour we stopped by the gift shop to buy souvenirs then made our way to Portobello Rd Markets (Notting Hill Gate station).

The weather was quite hot in London today. The tube was really sticky and everyone on it looked like they were going to faint! Yesterday's front page read "Tube melts" and it was only 27 degrees yesterday! Apparently the temperature on the tube was up to 50 degrees.

Arriving at Notting Hill we walked down the famous Portobello Rd Markets. A long street of markets selling antiques, vintage clothing, hand-made jewellery and clothes as well as fresh produce. It was LONG and we had to get back to the hotel in time for the World Cup opening game. I think we only walked down half it actually. We stopped for lunch at Subway (Meatball subs YUM) and I ended up buying a printed dog bag (yes another handbag for me!). We ran back up Portobello Rd and caught the tube back to Oxford Circus to pick up an Aussie jersey for the first game.

We arrived at Oxford Circus just after 4pm. It was packed! So many people were shopping or on their way home/pubs to watch the opening game. We went into Niketown to buy the jersey but were shocked to find out that most the gold ones were sold out! The only size left was XL! Bumping into other Aussies we found out there were some down the street. We continued down Oxford St going in and out of sport stores but in the end could only find a gold Football Australia jersey.

Rushing back on foot to our hotel in Piccadilly Circus we managed to catch most the game. After the game we went to Chinatown and got take-away from the same place we ate at last night.

The World Cup part of our trip had officially started...!

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Photos

Todd @ Lord's
The home of cricket.