At 5 am this morning when I took Jimmy for a busy I noticed that the slip road on the eastbound A40 was closed off and police were redirecting the traffic. Later, on the news it was announced that there had been a serious road accident and the flyover was closed. Fortunately when we went for the bus to Regents Park the slip road had opened and the buses were running normally. We got off at York Gate and walked through the park stopping off at the Broad Walk cafe for a coffee and chat with other visitors. We continued in the shade of the large trees to London Zoo where, peaking over the fence we could see the Penguins swimming in their pool. As we crossed the canal bridge we could see the large Snowdon Aviary which was built in 1964.
We descended the steps down to the Cumberland Basin with the Feng Shang Princess, Floating Chinese Restaurant, magnificently hand crafted in the 1980's, as the first floating restaurant of it's kind in London, and then along the Regents Canal passing this cow on a balcony, the Pirate Castle centre for children’s boating activities, and this punt outside the entrance to the Camden Market.
From the Canal Foot Bridge you can look over Camden lock and the other direction into the Market.
Camden Market was really buzzing with people and stalls selling everything from clothing to food from all over the world. There are around 700 stalls in the complete market which is open all week.
Camden Stables Market, the largest of the several markets making up Camden Market gets its name from its previous incarnation as a horse hospital. In Victorian times, the stables were where horses injured pulling barges down the canals would come for treatment. Now it and the catacombs under the arches opposite have been combined under the umbrella term 'Stables Market' and together make up the largest of Camden's popular market spaces. Over 450 shops and stalls are housed here selling a variety of antiquarian and unique items from accessories and jewellery to furniture and clothing. Even media mogul Chris Evans famously has a stall here. If you tire of shopping and gawking there's plenty of entertainment within the market.
I could not resist including pictures of these two shops selling Burlesque costumes and way out shoes for Gaynor. She would have a field day here when selecting clothes for our Murder Mystery Nights or her way out weddings.
We eventually ended up in Camden High Street and outside a very famous pub, The Bucks Head, once owned by my nephew David when he was a very young lad.
Returning on the No27 bus we arrived at Merchant Square just as they were about to test the new Water Feature next to the Kinetic Fan Bridge. It looks as though it will be a great attraction and I understand that they will be able to control it so that you can walk through the middle without getting wet. I must say in the last couple of days they have made great strides with completing the work and it is now looking really good with grass and decking in place and shortly the benches and stone arena will be completed.
Outside the M& S building the square was filled with stalls selling food from around the world and the local office workers were taking full advantage of the nice weather to enjoy the food sitting on the steps or in deck chairs. The local classic car group had a several cars on display including a VW campervan, Fiat 500, and Corvette Stingray.
In the lower area there were a range of animals and insects on display and children and adults alike were experiencing holding snakes, hedgehogs, dragons, and stick insects. We declined the offer.
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