“Give me Liberty or give me Death!”
– Patrick Henry

Sunday was a cosy, grey, and rainy day that Jeff and I spent mostly indoors in comfy clothes so when Monday rolled around I felt a little stir crazy. Our internet was (for real this time!) hooked up first thing in the morning, Jeff had a meeting at work, and I was caught up to where I wanted to be with my work. So, after glancing around the flat and then outside at the mostly nonthreatening weather, I grabbed an umbrella and headed straight for the West End.

I was feeling a long stroll so I walked all over Covent Garden, before heading down through Westminster, and straight into Liberty.

Liberty is a gorgeous…calling it a department store almost seems an insult even though that’s what it is. It’s one of the old-school stores of the late 19th century where different items are housed in entirely separate rooms, the stationary does not mingle with the jewelry and the products are sourced directly from their manufacturers, eclectic or high end. There is wonderful mix of both designer works and artisanal items as well.

The store is renowned for its print fabrics, which originally were sourced from the Orient during the Art Nouveau period, but that they still make and house in their charmingly named Haberdashery room. The famous building itself is 1920’s Tudor revival with wooden floors and panels, stained glass panes in the windows, and working fireplaces.

As it happened, I got inside just in time because it started hailing furiously! Luckily I was protected from the downpour and able to get a head start on planning the upcoming birthday and holidays present campaign. And, I admit, doing some fantasy Wish Listing of my own.

The top floor is an anthropologist’s dream! African tribal goods, Persian marble relief carvings, statues, fountains, antiques, Morrocan tiles, you name it! This room would likely give my Dad, a collector of rugs and carpets from the Middle and Far East, heart failure with joy. Though admittedly the prices might just give him heart failure period.

Jeff caught up with me after his work meeting and as he’d finished his home study assignments for the day as well, and as they weather had cleared up, we wandered for the rest of the evening. Down through Regent Street and Oxford Street, and eventually all the way down to the Houses of Parliament before finally meandering home. I’d originally intended just an hour or two out and about, in the end I spent over six out just walking through London.

*Pardon the cellphone quality photos, if I’d know where I was going I would have grabbed my camera. But adventurous rambles can’t really be planned, you know!

“The earth laughs in flowers.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

London is absolutely crammed full of markets, and they are one of the major reasons the city retains so much of its history and character so well. Anyone can go to the store and by cheap bread in a plastic bag. But how much better is it (both in personal experience and to keep the arts involved alive) is it to go to the local market and for the same price – and often cheaper! – buy a loaf of freshly baked bread made from someone’s family recipe at a market that has been operating on that site since the Middle Ages?

And it isn’t just for food, there are markets for vintage goods, antiques, textiles, homeopathic creations, confections, odds and ends, baubles, homemade or craft items, and just about anything else under the sun. The city is a smorgasbord of Really Cool Stuff!

One of its market gems is the Columbia Road Flower Market, open only on Sundays. The name is a bit of a misnomer because you can also buy stationary, antiques, and artisan goods along the shops that line the road, but the street itself is utterly taken over by vegetation on Sundays and it’s worth the visit. Europeans have a love of fresh flowers that I don’t see a lot of Americans sharing. A once or twice weekly purchase of some blooms to brighten one’s house is simply built into most people’s shopping lists.

The word “flower” is also slightly misleading. Yes you can get cut flowers here, by the absolute barrel full, but you can also get potted plants, ferns, succulents, shrubs, and whole trees as well. We admired a palm tree with a trunk the width of a tire, but moved along. I’m currently flirting shamelessly with the idea of bringing a small lemon tree indoors to shrink our already small flat (inspiration here), but on Sunday I settled for a pretty orchid to bring something living into the place. Our flat, in true British fashion, was painted before we moved in – absolutely every surface was whitewashed to a blinding degree and I’m trying to think up ways to make it feel less like a hospital!

There is every species of flower imaginable there, and it’s giving me grand ideas for a balcony garden, but in the meantime we just admired the sights, sounds, and glorious smells.

Back in the 19th century, the area of the market had turned into a rather bad slum and a philanthropist bought the area and established a market that didn’t last too long, but trading in the area persisted and today Columbia Road is a popular and well-beloved stop for weekend shopping. You can always tell who has been by the streams of people wandering towards the Overground station with arms full of brown-paper wrapped blooms.