Our Last Night

According to the advice of travel expert Rick Steves, we only went to the ATM twice, once when we arrived in Paris and once when we arrived in London.  He says you should never try to exchange currency because you lose money on the exchange rate and for transaction fees.  He says you should try to take out what you think you'll need for the number of days you'll be in whichever country, then try to spend the full amount before you leave.

This being our last night in London, we turned in our Oyster cards, which are the cards we used for the metro/bus system. You can get a refund on the unused amount and for the 5 pound deposit you have to pay for each card--but the machines give you the refund in change.  So at dinner, we emptied our collective pockets and paid for almost the entire tab in change.  We explained the whole scenario to our waitress so she wouldn't think we were total idiots, but who knows, she still might have had her doubts.  FYI, most of the coins we left were 1 and 2 pound coins, so it wasn't like we were paying her in pennies or anything as annoying as that.

This morning, we went to Notting Hill and Portobello Road Market.  Here's a sign for proof.

The market during the week is not quite as bustling as it is on weekends, but there were still a lot of vendors--fruit stands, antiques, souvenirs, vintage clothes, etc. 

We had lunch there, but typical of us, we didn't buy anything.  The thought of having to find room in my suitcase for one more thing is enough to dissuade me.

Here's the bookstore from the movie.  Alas, we didn't see Hugh or Julia, or the skinny dude from the movie that liked to wear strange t-shirts and no pants (if I remember the movie correctly).

I was tickled to see that they really do sell portobello mushrooms on Portobello Road!