Camden Town

Today, I’m going to try something different. For our international friends, and on the occasion of our recent trip to London, I’ll try to express my thoughts and observations in english. Please forgive any mistakes.

As we didn’t have a lot of time to go on our random walk, we used the small tourist map in our guidebook as a starting point. When our destination turned out to be Camden Market, we couldn’t help but feeling slightly underwhelmed; of course, using a tourist map meant that we would end up in a tourist spot no matter what, but did it have to be that touristy? But then again, that’s the beauty of our walks. We’ll have to accept whatever comes up, and so far we always discovered new and interesting things. We started out at Camden Market Station, visited by up to 500.000 people each month; and sure enough, most of them seemed to have decided to show up today.

I like the guy in the foreground. I want to put him into every photo, silently judging. 

Camden Town. Where punk came to die. 

I learned a new meaning of the word "lock". I also realized that the name "Camden Lock Market" has nothing to do with securing your property. Although I guess in my mind I envisioned a whole market hall dedicated to the selling of locks, chains and keys, which I kind of want to visit now.

Once we got out of the market area, the atmosphere changed, and it began to feel more like one of our regular walks. Less excitement, more everyday life.

 

We ended up walking down Kentish Town Street, an interesting and diverse neighborhood, wich seems to be on the brink of gentrification. There are a lot of corner shops and cellphone stores, but also a number of espresso bars and stylish bistros. 

Who can resist a sign that points to "Risotto balls"? Unfortunately, the Arancini had a contemporary twist to them, and they couldn’t compare to the pyramid-shaped, pea-and-bacon-rice filled treats we once had in Napoli.

We realized how good the situation still is in Berlin. Someone is willing to pay 600 £ (about 850 €) for a single room in this pleasant, but otherwise unremarkable neighborhood? That’s incredible, and a little bit depressing. (By the way, please don't try to call the number to ridicule them; as a precaution we mixed up the numbers while editing the photo – you might reach someone entirely unrelated.)

 

Another lock on the way back to the station; being a boat owner in London seems to require a lot of patience.

 And so our walk ended. As does this attempt to formulate my observations in english. It’s been laborious, but fun!  I might try it again in the future.