Markets and Festivals

It's been a while since I've posted, which has become a perfect example of compounding procrastination as every time I put off writing a post because I had too much to say, I gained even more to say, which caused me to delay even more.  Fortunately, this week looks to be rather lackluster in terms of after-work activity, so I can finally go back to the front of my list - the weekend of September 12th.

On a beautiful Saturday morning, at the advice of my housemate-cum-landlord, I set out to find "Camden Lock," which I knew nothing about other than that it was a destination, and a lock.  I was told that "it's popular when the weather's nice," so I set out with a general intent to arrive there at some point.  My wanderings initially took me to Portobello Road market, just a 10 minute walk from my house.  Portobello Road is a major antiques market held on Saturdays in Notting Hill, and my journey from end to end lasted a surprisingly long time, along beautiful curving streets lined with pretty white townhouses and hippies selling knick-knacks (or "bric-a-brac" as they call it here).  And not just hippies.  Everyone was selling all variety of market goods, which can sufficiently be described as being identical in nature to every other broad-variety market in the world.

At the end of the market the quality of the neighborhood had deteriorated visibly, and I decided that it would be more interesting to hop on the Underground (which at this point was above ground) and go to Camden Lock.  Before I emerged from the subway station I was half-hoping that Camden Lock would in fact turn out to be "Camden Loch," though my much more reasonable expectation of a canal lock was all but confirmed when I found myself in a mass of humanity of all shapes, sizes, and colors... of tattoo.  It appeared that Camden Town (the area around the station) was in fact a rather edgy (or so they wanted to believe) market, bar, and entertainment area.  The first market, almost immediately adjacent to the station fit this mold, but as I walked toward the lock, things gradually became more international (the first hint was a Chinese-run ice cream shop next to a tattoo parlor) until suddenly, at the lock, it became quite different.  The lock, to the left of the road, was lined on one side by outdoor restaurants, bars, and a Starbucks.  Just past these was the high arch of a bridge to the other side, under which a multitude of revelers gathered for their afternoon drinks and picnics.  Speaking of afternoon drinks, I am not so sure I have ever seen so many people drinking on a regular Saturday afternoon - I think that in New York people went out in the evenings, and even when the weather was spectacular taking wine to central park during the day or going for afternoon drinks outside was not that common (e.g. maybe 1 in 10 groups on the Sheep Meadow).  What was surprising was not that there were a few people having drinks, but that every bar was completely full.

Anyway, across the bridge was a footpath along the canal which continued (I presume) a very long way.  Abutting the other side of the footpath was a courtyard that I entered through a small hole in the wall, to find myself in another market.  This market had food vendors, art galleries, and more knick-knacks.  I spent about an hour there and discovered that it went quite a long way, through buildings that once housed, among other things, stables and a veterinary hospital.  I highly recommend it, as it's one of the most extensive markets I've ever visited, and had a great variety of things to see (or if you're so inclined, to purchase).

Having exhausted my interest in markets for the day, I decided to hop on a bus outside, which said "Hampstead Heath via Trafalgar Square."  After about 10 minutes I found myself in Hampstead and discerned that the bus had in fact already passed Trafalgar Square, and after peeking around it's very cute main street and an underground toilet hopped back on the bus going in the other direction (Pimlico , and rode it to the square.

Trafalgar Square which was smaller than I expected, except for the massive column and lions commemorating Lord Nelson, which were larger, presumably because he was short.  I left the square and wandered across the river to find myself (to my partial dismay) in another market!  It turns out that it was the Thames Festival, and it was quite fortuitous because I was able to sign up for ZipCar for a discounted rate (which was then credited back to my account for use, so it was essentially free if I use the credit), which I had intended to do anyway (it is much cheaper than in New York).  I walked along the water to the millennium bridge, where I found a fantastic fire festival set up, with whirling, oscillating, mechanical globes of oil lamps and flaming flower pots.  It was really quite spectacular, even more so because in New York such a display would have been observed from a distance with binoculars, while here young children lay under and jumped around a variety of flaming contraptions.  I was both apprehensive and pleased.  I crossed the bridge feeling rather happy to find the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral looming over me, and made my way home.

The next day I returned to the festival with a young couple that my parents had introduced me to, and had dinner (my first out... it was bland) and watched a fantastic fireworks display with a finale that filled our field of vision with sparkling gold glitter (and rained ash on us... that was interesting).

All in all, a great weekend!  Hopefully I'll get around to posting photos eventually.