Noel's Adventure(s): January 23: Lost in Camden Town

Today I got up at 7:30 to get ready to go to Little Venice and Camden. We had to meet a guide at 10, so we left the flat at 9, and I'm glad we went early, because the District and Circle lines were closed, so we had to take a different, longer route to Warwick Station. The guide was waiting for us, and took us on a tour of the Camden neighborhood, pointing out interesting sites, like where Sigmund Freud lived for a year, or the bar where "Will and Grace" was filmed. Then, we went down to the canal and Little Venice, which is a picturesque little area built around a canal. There are lots of boats moored around the edges, and pretty "tow paths," where horses used to tow the boats laden with goods before the invention of modern engines. In some areas, you can see grooves worn by the tow ropes. There were lots of water birds swimming and waiting for a snack. I saw lots of seagulls and coots, several Canada geese, and some grayish geese with bright orange bills that I see a lot here, as well as swans, cormorants, mallards, and several different kinds of ducks. It was extremely pretty, but soooo cold! We were all freezing long before we saw the canal.

We rode the "Water Bus Gardenia" to Camden. The boat was long and skinny, like all canal boats, and very very shallow. It was FREEZING! The air was damp, and we all shivered all the way to Camden. The boat tour was pretty, I suppose, but it was too cold to enjoy anything. We went past the zoo, and all the animals looked chilly. We were all very relieved when the boat tour ended (who's idea was it to book a boat tour in January anyway?!). A group of us ran straight towards a restaurant called "Wagamama," since we'd heard it had good noodle dishes and good prices, and we really needed a hot meal, fast. It was a fantastic lunch. I had a HUGE pile of yaki soba noodles, with chicken and teeny little shrimps, and egg and lots of veggies and pickled ginger, and I ate the whole thing.

Before...

...After

Then, my friend Amanda and I set out to explore the market. I was determined to find some jewelry, since I've been kicking myself for hardly bringing any with me, and we both needed scarves. We just roamed the market first, trying to see everything first before we purchased anything. It was incredible. The place is just sprawling. As a friend said before we went, "You could get eaten by Camden." The antiques and vintage clothing areas were fun to explore. I almost got a dress from a stall, but I just wasn't 100% sure I loved it, and £15 is a bit too expensive for the quality they sold in the market, though I considered when a shopkeeper offered it for 10. Still, just wasn't perfect. I finally settled on a beaded leather bracelet with a snowflake charm-it's cheap, but still pretty, and a very nice "market trinket." I also bought two pashmina scarves, one in red and orange tones to match my coat, and one in silverish and purple, because the price was better for two. Finally, I found a wonderful jewelry stall that had good quality, reasonably-priced silver with semi-precious stones. I deliberated a bit, but I really really needed some dangly earrings, so I got a pair of moonstone ones for £12 that have two drop-shaped stones that dangle and have a bit of movement. I'm very happy with them, and the stones have a lot of the blue moonstone sparkle.

When Amanda and I decided to leave, we thought we'd take the bus home, since the buses are cheaper, and a nice ride, especially when the light is still out. The guide had told us to just take the 24 to Trafalgar Square, then take the 9 straight home (it stops just outside our door). We hopped on the 24, labelled "Via Trafalgar Square" and settled in for a long but pleasant ride home...until all of a sudden everyone was gone, and the speaker said "This bus terminates here" and we had to get off. It was definitely NOT Trafalgar Square! We had absolutely no clue where we were! So, we got out our map, but we didn't know where we were so that was no help. It's a very good thing that both of us decided it was an adventure, and so we just had fun with it. We figured we'd better find a landmark, so we headed towards a distant park. It had a map near the gate, that showed the park on the right with a helpful "you are here" sticker, and far on the left it showed a tube stop, but it wasn't labelled and the roads weren't shown. We just knew that somewhere to the West there was a tube station. Lucky for us, I just so happened to have my handy compass in my pocket! (By the way, thanks, Dad, for making me take it!!! It sure saved our butts.)

"The Birds," waiting for us at the dead-end bus stop

St. Stephan's, somewhere in Camden

We set out for "West," hoping to run into the mysterious tube station. On the way, we discovered two very pretty churches, St Stephan's, and another just across the road that didn't have a sign. It was really a very nice place to be lost. Just as we finally spotted the glorious red and blue glowing tube station sign, I found a pretty little greenhouse with amazingly healthy cyclamen out front for £3, so I picked out a bright pink one to commemorate our long journey. Turns out we had been wandering about Hampstead Heath, which is way the heck to the North, in the middle of nowhere. We had found the Belsize Park station, so we took the Northern Line south to Leicester Square, transferred to the Piccadilly line and headed home to Glouster Road. We got doughnuts at the Waitrose to celebrate, and they were the best doughnuts ever! We both chose "Chocolate Berliners." They were breadier, and less fried than American doughnuts, and the chocolate filling tasted more like truffle filling. In short, they were incredible. When we got home, we found out that everyone else from our group had had the same problem, but they had an absolutely horrible trip back, and were very shaken and upset. We just had fun! It was a very nice little adventure.

The three stages of our journey...

Stage 1: Lost, but we found a map! (Kind of.)

Stage 2: We found the tube! (And we have a flower.)

Stage 3: Home at last (With doughnuts!)

I've spent the night watching the Packer game with my friends, and wow, what fun! There was a lot of yelling at computer screens. We're all huddled around the table, with 6 screens and 8 people, cheering. SUPERBOWL!!! This was such a good day!!!

More pictures of Camden: