Flowers, Ghost Signs, and Lunch with Friends

It's been a great Sunday, and somehow the weather cooperated and the rain held off.

Our first stop today was an early one. The Columbia Road Flower Market is held each Sunday morning, and for us, it was a 40 minute trip via tube and walking. But as soon as turned the corner onto Columbia Road, we were blown away by the amount and the color of the flowers for sale there. The stalls ran about two blocks and you could buy cut flowers or plants, and everything was beautifully displayed. The vendors were all calling out their prices as the customers walked by. This market had such a different feel than the Portobello Road Market; everyone here was a local buying flowers for their gardens and homes.

We took lots of pictures, then stopped for coffee and breakfast. There's a cute bakery there called Lilli Vanilli that is tucked away in a courtyard behind the market. We tried the sausage rolls, and I should have known better. They were good (according to Greg) but I just don't care for sausages so passed some on to Greg. I did like the beet and carrot polenta cake, and the place was very cute.

We couldn't stay too long at the market because we had a tour scheduled in Stoke Newington, and we were told to be at the meeting place promptly at 10:50. So, of course, we arrived 50 minutes early! Why is it I feel that I'm late if I'm on time; I always arrive early. We decided to search for a bathroom, and found a small Turkish cafe. In the front window of the cafe, a woman was busy making what she called gozlemeler. She would roll out the dough, add a combination of spinach, feta, or what looked like mashed sweet potatoes, and then she would fold it in half and place it on the black heated pan you see on her right. The dough would cook and the stuff inside would all melt together. They looked delicious but I had eaten most of that darn sausage roll and I couldn't think of trying more. But I enjoyed talking with her as she made one after the other and then flipped them up onto the windowsill.

I had really been looking forward to our tour today, and I wasn't disappointed. It's called Ghostsigns Tour. Ghostsigns are old painted advertisements on brick buildings that we've all seen in cities and small towns that are often faded or warn down and impossible to read. There just happens to be a group of these in Stoke Newington, so our guide, Sam Roberts, walked us by them all and gave us an opportunity to try to figure out what they said and what they were advertising. He made it into a game, and it was so interesting to see these pieces of history painted on the buildings around town. Sam is very knowledgeable and has done a lot of research on the painted advertising not only in England but around the world.

As soon as the tour was over, we found our bus to take us to meet our friends, Kay & Jim. They actually live a block from us at home, but we haven't had the chance to have lunch together until today when we happened to be here at the same time! We ate at a seafood restaurant in the Old Spitafields Market, and it was great to see them and hear about their travels.

Another busy day. We picked up dinner on the way home and plan a quiet night.