We're going to the market, to the market...actually to 3 different markets and to Little Venice...
After breakfast, we board bus 27 which took us all the way to Camden Town. As we arrived early before 10am, the first market that we visited called the Stables was still being set up. Still, gates were open so we wandered in...
No, no hammersmithing onto Di's head...
The donut/pastry stand (on the right) was ready for the start of the day...everyone else was getting ready.
All quite nicely done, yet surrounded by some usual junk stalls, but also some interesting others, and the never ending horse theme.
As we were exploring Di received a phone call from Mum on our new UK number from home in Australia. All worked well and whilst chatting Mum made some local sightseeing suggestions, having been to the UK and London in September last year. Nice to chat again. Hans took a few photos whilst waiting.
We were still in exploring mode, rather than shopping mode (OK, let's be honest we almost never feel like shopping) so we wandered into Camden Town in search of THE Camden Markets.
We found the Camden street scene fun and interesting, a bit like King Street in Newtown, Sydney.
Shop owners went to some effort to attract business. There were a lot of eye-catching decorations on the building walls.
Aha - THE Camden Markets. The market passages are tiny - barely wide enough for one person, so you tend to just "go with the flow". Shown below is a wider section where Hans could stop and take a photo. We assumed this must get crazy around lunchtime. We looked at a lot of fun t-shirts but again shopping was just not a priority and we kept moving.
We did notice this charming way of describing sizing of women's clothes - ranging from tiny and trim to extra healthy and voluptuous. We agreed Di was "extra healthy".
During Mum's phone call, she suggested a waterbus trip to Little Venice, west of Camden, and then walking back to the markets (about 2 miles). A boat was leaving in 30 minutes so we decided to take up her "trip tip" - it looked fun. Here comes the boat...
And it was fun and interesting...as well as being a unique experience. Thanks Mum! We grinned the whole 50 minutes trip and went crazy with photography. OK, maybe not grinning the whole way, but Hans can see why Di would put that in...
Looking out the front from our seats as we leave Camden west on Regents Canal.
The canal narrows and in some sections boats are permanently moored which makes it tighter still.
A Deja Vu moment - we were on this footpath last Thursday. Well, it deserved a second visit.
This tunnel only allows one skinny boat through at a time. Hans was nearly scraping the wall while holding the camera outside the boat.
Aahh towards Venice... No, it is actually towards Little Venice.
The Little Venice Basin is quite charming and based on the long queue, this boat trip is a popular route to the London Zoo (which we passed on the way) and to Camden.
It was already noon and we had not yet had coffee (what were we thinking?). This canal side cafe was perfect on a lovely mild day.
The only downside to canal boat cafes is "no loos" (Mind you, you don't want to really think where it ends up...). We found a public loo in a small park a short walk away and then started our walk back following the canal. This was our route back to Camden and beyond to Angel tube station...
Up and over we go and down the stairs on the other side - Di racing ahead...(as usual).
As we approached Camden, a punt / gondola came the other way with a few people on board and also what looked like a Sitar player. English punting on a Sunday accompanied by Indian folk music - a great example of the mix of Camden. We liked this area a lot.
Nearly back and this Pirate Castle caught out eye. Looked great.
Whilst Di was sorting out our food Hans was minding our impromptu seats on a ledge near the stairs. The whole time Di was gone (about 15 minutes) this Spanish guy next to Hans wrestled with trying to open a bottle of red wine / rejos. He still did not have it open when Di returned but finally...success. He swigged straight from the bottle.
Our ledge for lunch was surrounded by bikes with riders that perhaps couldn't read english (it was a league of nations surrounding us) or more likely just didn't care.
These scooter seats with food trays in front fascinated Di. They looked great and were very popular with punters eating their lunches.
Ok - a little browsing of T-shirts for £2.99 each. Still bought nothing. We are hopeless.
We got back onto the towpath heading east and it was immediately quieter but not as pretty. We think that this littered section may have been the result of just one bin or bag gone astray (or being dumped in the water by some "funny guys").
It was clear we were moving into a lower socio-economic area of London - especially when we saw this (oh dear, Fosters has not been a favorite Australian beer for 25 years or more if it ever was).
Another lock near Kings Cross - they still fascinate us.
The canal area around Kings Cross is going through some beautification of the industrial gas storage chambers and old buildings. We especially liked the flowing decorative banner across the buildings.
But...the further we walked towards Angel/Islington (on the streets because the canal is underground for quite a while) the less we liked it. By the time we were near Angel tube station we had taken a dislike to the area and were soon back on the train to Camden Town. Much better.
We looked for a pub for an afternoon drink, and chose The Camden Eye as they had an IPA on tap. Hans was getting sick of Ale and Lager and wanted something else but unfortunately was let down once more. The American and Canadian craft beers were so much better (and more to his taste). Di had a cider, a perfect cold drink on a warm afternoon.
While we drank inside Camden Eye, we watched this young, very friendly looking Irish girl handing out discount cards to punters as they passed. To her credit she smiled at everyone and never seemed put off by any abruptness. We liked her and of course took a card when we left (the discount was 30% off a haircut or color - Di was tempted). Hans told the girl that she had a nice face.
At 4ish we decided to head back home from Camden. Hmmm, not quite as simple as getting to Camden. Our bus, number 27, was diverted away from its regular local bus stop. We think this was due to the huge cycling event that took place over 40km across London today. Most bus routes appeared to be impacted.
So we took our chances and hopped on the first bus which vaguely went south and figured we could jump off when we recognized where we were. It worked and we found ourselves outside Green Park at Mayfair waiting for the "good old number 9". Once more we love the buses here and with our 7 day unlimited Oyster card we are making good use of the services.
Home at 5pm and tea and snacks in our room after the huge lunch and drinks.
We made plans for tomorrow, sorted out our multitude of photos (this is definitely a sub set), blogged and chilled. Good night.
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