A Canal, Two Contrasting Villages, and a Spontaneous Ending

Thursday morning.
I should probably mention that this is my third trip to London.  The first time I was here with my family and the second time with a friend.  While I certainly didn't see everything there is to see (that would really take years!), I did manage to tick off most of the major tourist sites (Tower of London, Churchill War Rooms, St. Pauls, Westminster, and more).  So while we will certainly see a few high points, we really want to focus this time on getting out of central London and seeing neighborhoods, local markets, and lesser known areas. We also wanted to see several plays.

So yesterday we had our plan of attack and we started out early.  Breakfast was back at La Pain Quotidien, which is probably going to be our regular spot.  The porridge was wonderful!  (There's one in Chicago in case any of you want to run down there and experience it.)  We took the bus to Little Venice, which doesn't really look like Venice but there is a canal.  The canal is lined with house boats that are so varied in condition and design - but all fascinating. Most are extremely narrow and it's hard to imaging living in that space. Most had flowers or gardens on the roofs of the boats. Evidently the cost of mooring is very high but what an interesting life style. There's also a walkway that borders the canal where you can bike or walk for miles.

We took the Waterbus from Little Venice to Camden Lock.  It was a very relaxing way to spend 45 minutes or so while seeing the homes and boats along the canal. Some of the houses that line the canal are magnificent with well maintained gardens, and others...... not so much. The Waterbus has no commentary which would have been nice to have since we had no idea what we were seeing some of the time. There's another canal ride called Jason's that I wish we would have used instead, but we still enjoyed our ride. The boats leave pretty regularly so you don't have to wait long no matter when you arrive, and you can make the return trip from Camden back to Little Venice if you want.

When we arrived in Camden Lock, the smells were incredible. We were surrounded by about 30 food tents that were set up and lunch was being prepared. Literally every type of ethnic food was represented: Spanish, Mexican, Thai, Turkish, Ethopian, etc. We weren't at all hungry and the food wasn't ready, but it was fun to just walk around and see what ingredients they had out and watch them at work. If we can, we'd like to go back later and sample a few.

We walked down the main street of Camden Town and it was just as I imagined - vibrant, busy, tacky, and full of 20-somethings. My favorite part was the way they designed their storefronts.  If it was a shoe shop, there was some huge shoe hanging from the front of the building.  We didn't take any pictures, but if you're curious as to what they look like, you can see some here. We didn't want to buy a key chain, a cheap t-shirt, beads or a tatoo, so we decided to move on to our next stop.

We had a few hours to kill before a 2:00 walk, so we hopped on the tube and headed to Kings Cross station. Greg and I waited in line along with 30 or more 10-year-old girls to have our pictures taken at the infamous Platform 9 3/4. When the helpful woman asked me which color scarf I wanted to wear and I told her I didn't care, she seemed baffled.  Evidently, I was supposed to have a loyalty to one of the groups in the Harry Potter books, and I didn't. Sinful. I thought about telling her I only read the first book, but I was afraid she'd kick me out. Greg's read them all; he would have saved me. While you pose for the picture, the woman frantically waves the scarf so it looks like you're moving.  Obviously, some picture cropping is in order.

I'd read that a new food market (can you sense a pattern here?) had opened outside the Kings Cross station, and since we were starting to get hungry, we wanted to check it out.  It was small and didn't have much in the way of prepared foods, so we didn't stay.  Maybe since it is new it is still growing.

So back on the tube and off to our afternoon plan.  Hampstead.  This charming village is everything Camden isn't.  It's quaint, scenic, upscale, and the kind of place you want to spend time wandering the streets and stopping at shops.  And bakeries - must be two on every block.  By the time we got there, we were starving, so probably didn't make the best (or healthiest) choice for lunch. We had a burger at Spielsburger, and while it wasn't the best I've ever had, it tasted pretty darn good.

I had read about Hampstead and especially had heard wonderful things about the tour there that's done by London Walks.  They are a group who conducts walking tours (maybe 10 or more a day) in various places and sites throughout London.  Besides the fact that the guides are knowledgeable and professional, their policy is that you just show up at the place and time the tour is scheduled, pay your fee (7 BP for seniors), and off you go. You don't have to make a reservation so you can be flexible about whether you go or not. After one tour, I'd recommend them highly and we hope to go on at least one or two more.

Greg decided to pass on the tour. His back and legs were hurting from all the walking already, so the thought of a two-hour stroll through town wasn't what he wanted to do. But he ended up walking around during that time on his own, so he wasn't exactly resting. The tour I took was fabulous. There was a large group, but the guide managed us well. As we walked through the village, he would stop and tell us about individual streets, who lived there at one time, and pointed out various homes and architecture. Obviously, this is a now a very high-end area. Many well-known actors, artists, authors, and other celebrities either lived there or live there now. We saw the homes of Robert Louis Stevenson, Dusty Springfield, two of the Spice Girls, Ridley Scott, Judy Dench, John Galsworthy, Richard Burton, and more. The guide did an excellent job of giving us stories about each of these homes and the different areas we walked through. There's also a large mass of land on the edge of the village called Hampstead Heath. It is left natural for the most part, and has trails throughout it. Greg walked ithere and took some pictures, and our tour just passed through a small piece of it. According to our guide, Hampstead Heath is larger than the City of London. Here are some pictures that I took on the tour and Greg took of the town and the Heath.

After the tour, we rode down to Leicester Square to see if we could get discount tickets for the theater for tonight (Thursday). We were both exhausted, but we wanted to see what was available. We bought our tickets to see The Commitments, and then started looking at what else was available. They had great tickets for War Horse for that night - starting in just a few hours! Exhausted? Yes. But what the heck. Surely a great play will keep us awake. Took the tube home, dropped off the camera and our stuff, rode back to the theater district, found a place for a salad and wine, and went to the play. It really was wonderful, and how they animate the horses is amazing! The story is, of course, the same as the movie, but it was worth it to see it live. And we were in the 10th row in the center - perfect!

Riding home on the tube, we decided that today would be a bit less hectic. Slept like a baby.