Notting Hill: Surreal, but nice

Kathy Petite, Contributor, London

Have you ever felt that you wanted to be sucked into the screen and to find yourself on the set of the movie you are watching? That was the exact feeling I got when I was in Notting Hill, West London recently.

Yes, that Notting Hill. The set of the 1999 romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts of the same title.

I was so in love with the flick that I vowed to myself that one day when I step into Limeyland, I would retrace spot by spot what appeared in the film.

So, on one freezing February morning, my boyfriend and I drove there in high spirits. To heighten the atmosphere, the original soundtrack of the movie played endlessly on the tape of the car (no, we were not wearing the T-shirts in case you were wondering).

We parked the car in the elite housing area of Chepstow Villas, and soon drifted into the flood of tourists and visitors from all over the world.

It was such a melting pot and enticing mixture of cultures.

The chilling breeze was defeated by our passion to explore the popular Portobello Road Market, where many of the scenes in the hit movie took place.

We came on the right day apparently, because Saturday is the day when all are in full swing, when all the stalls, shops, cafes, are open.

On one corner of the street, there was a performing artist, a lady in white with a crown, making bizarre moves. The road ahead was a vibrant mixture of cultures, colors and energy, full of hustle and bustle.

The street was simply filled with amazingly selections of accessories, antiques, arts and crafts, secondhand goodies, (which reminds me of the famous Jl. Surabaya in Central Jakarta), clothes, food, and more. The prices ranged from a few pounds to hundreds of pounds.

A series of shops were offering dozens of different interesting things. The first one we entered was packed with piles of souvenir: T-shirts, mugs, caps, shorts, key chains with scenes of the London Underground printed on them.

A few intriguing shrine-like New Age shops tempted us with their attractive collection of mood-lifting candles with various choices of perfumes, incense sticks and scented oils.

If you are into the world of aromatherapy, you will find this area a safe haven. Ditto if you dig secondhand records, tapes, CDs, or videos of various kinds of music.

Browsing through one shop after another, we finally bumped into another cinematic moment.

Remember that corner where Grant ran into Roberts and accidentally spilled the orange juice? It is located on the corner of Portobello Road and Westbourne Park Road.

We found it. We looked at it. We observed it. Like a couple of obsessed Notting Hill fans, we were standing there, trying to figure out the point from where he bought the drink, walked, met Julia, and pointed out his flat. Hopefully, we were not the first to do this crazy thing.

The run-down store in front of which Grant spilled the juice in the film, is now, in fact, a Coffee Republic cafe. And what did we find when we turned our head to Westbourne Park Road?

Of course, that very blue door of the flat which Grant shared with his odd, wacky, eccentric Welsh friend Spike. Except that it is now painted black.

Next on the list? Right. The travel bookshop, where Grant worked in the film.

At first, we thought the bookshop called Travel Bookshop at 13 Blenheim Crescent was the one they used in the film.

But later on, we found out that in reality, the film's Travel Book Co. was actually an antique shop called Nicholls Antique Arcade at 142 Portobello Rd.

However, the bookshop at Blenheim was actually quite an appealing shop with a great range of books, maps, and travel literature from around the globe.

The sun was about to go down when we finally drove out of Notting Hill Gate. My boyfriend then took me to the corner of Pall Mall and Trafalgar Square in London.

That is the spot where Spike boldly stopped and directed the traffic coming in the opposite direction, so that Grant could get to The Savoy on time, before Roberts flew back to the States.

We passed by the spot and almost got carried away, wanting to try to take an illegal turn across Piccadilly and land outside The Ritz.

But while that would have been an exciting experience worth sharing, the risk of being caught by police brought us back to sanity.

Nothing is more amazing really, than reliving the scenes of your favorite movies. Like Grant said to Roberts in the film, it was "surreal, but nice".