Breakfast at the New Covent Garden Flower Market in London

The early morning light warms the upper deck of our bus -- No. 436 heading for Vauxhall.  The traffic crawls through the crowded streets of Southeast London.  We're grateful for the periodic Bus Lanes that allow public transit vehicles and cabbies to swoosh by the standing traffic.

The spectacular view from our upper front row seats reminds us, as any double decker bus ride does, how much we love living in London! We pass the Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket.  MI6 loom ahead...

visions of Daniel Craig and the building exploding in "Skyfall." 

We hop off at Vauxhall Bridge, turn toward Battersea, and stroll in the shadow of the highrise residences lining the Thames. Parliament and St Steven's Tower feature in the skyline behind us.

Our destination...the Village Cafe at the New Covent Garden Flower Market.  The cafe opens at 5:00 am, to feed those workers who start their day at the Flower Market at 4:00 am. (Flower Market hours are 4:00 - 10:00 am).

But first a sneak peek at the posies on parade in the Flower Market "where 75% of London's florist choose to buy."
Boxes, trays, cartons bursting with colour!
Easter lilies by the dozen.
Even a dinosaur skeleton for your garden or fancy-dress party!  Photo ops seem endless.

Out the side door of the main warehouse, but still within the Flower Garden walled perimeter, we find the Village Cafe.  Drab and modern on the outside, integral to the Flower Market architecture.

Sadly, this Flower Market, erected in the early 1970's, replaces the original flower market first laid out as the "Covent Garden" Piazza in 1631 by the architect Inigo Jones, further developed in 1829-30, and more recently refurbished in the late 20th century into a trendy tourist spot in the City Centre.  Such beauty housed within a framework reflecting the epitome of the 1970's--functionality without imagination.   The photo-history of the Flower Market lines the walls of the cafe.

We situate ourselves in the back corner, next to a box holding 30 dozen eggs for the day ahead.  We enjoy four of them fried "soft" (learning the lingo!) with runny yolks soaking into thick slabs of toast.
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Two crossword puzzles and a newspaper  later, we venture out, across the Vauxhall Bridge, gasping at the antics of daredevil window washers high above the River Thames.

We meander through the streets of Pimlico and Kensington. Spring flowers, these uncut and free for all to view, fill traffic islands and small park places.  The finale is the glorious spray of colour filling Hyde Park flower garden -- magnificent!