Sunday 6/13

Woke up around 10:30 am after getting back from Paris the night before. Me and two other girls decided to hit Portabello Market again since we only saw 1/2 of it last time. It goes for 2 miles long... goodness gracious. So many antiques! I try to stray away from large objects -- due to the space in my suitcase :/
I ended up getting another pair of jewelry... seems like that is all I ever get! This time it wasn't for myself though :D The table I got the earrings from I could have bought everything if I had the money haha. It was all so fun and stylish. There were bangles, bulky necklaces, silver pendants, shells for necklaces and earrings... and so on. I had to force myself to walk away!

After the market, we tubed it to Hyde Park to listen to Speaker's Corner.

Speaker's Corner will offer you a glimpse of London's real past, where Londoners engage in earnest, open conversations that can quickly become loud and contentious debates. There's no parliamentary procedure here, it's freewheeling verbal contact and if you have a mind to, you're free to take part. Tourists can often be seen entering into heated discussion with locals and other visitors alike. Speakers require no qualification or invitation. It is as open a forum as you are likely to see anywhere in the world, a classless forum where one can really see grassroots democracy at work.

Topics for debate are in no way preordained, but they will tend towards the more provocative subjects of politics, religion, morality and current events, which in turn attracts some of London's more colourful and flamboyant figures.

On a typical spring morning, walking around from huddle to huddle, you will hear discussions on everything from the state of declining moral standards in the world to football. As on any Sunday, a Christian contingent will be well represented among the speakers. Some of the more extremist denominations cause obvious discord among the crowds and can make for some of the more memorable sights at the corner as they verbally battle the hecklers.







This was a bit much for me but it was kind of ridiculous but slightly funny listening to some of the topics. I don't really want to get into it because I'm sure people have different opinions. The topics I heard were mostly of religion- like a guy was saying the Qur'an (the book of Islam) was the only book to go by and nothing else is right. And you can imagine what else they were saying. Another guy was talking about immigration and that is when a British man comes up and says "We were all foreigners at one point!" This made me laugh because it is so true!

Then we went and sat on the lawn of Hyde Park and chilled... with a bottle of wine. :) haha They have no laws on open containers so it was a beautiful day to hang out outside and drink a glass of wine :) Or just drink out of the bottle... woops!


[in the midst of debating about Politics and Religion there was this guy giving out Free Hugs :)]

We traveled back to Old Street tube station and went into Thai Thai to grab some food. We had heard it was good but I was not impressed. I've definitely had better Thai. Oh well, bed time early tonight- still worn out from Paris.