Winding down
Saturday crowds in Camden Town
We usually fly home on the Saturday before we have to get back, but for some reason this year we were unable to get a flight that day. We wanted to take British Airways as they now fly direct from Heathrow to Nashville, which is way cool. No stops, no flight changes, no layovers. But Saturday was not to be so we had to take the Sunday flight. We should arrive around 4 p.m. with time to get home and get ready to go to work on Monday.
Today was supposed to be a free form/easy going day, and it was. We had no real plans but hoped to go to the famous Camden Markets. It used to be a collection of flea market type stuff, but has evolved to market stalls selling everything from vintage clothes, leather goods, teas, and different street foods from around the world. It is quite popular and it seemed as if everyone in London was there today. 
In the "Horse stalls" area of Camden Market
It tends to have an “alternate” vibe with tattoo shops and steampunk stores. It was Amy Winehouse’s stomping grounds when she was still alive, and she shopped in the market and drank (a LOT apparently) in the bars. We had pofferjtes (little pancakes from Holland), pizza, Laurie had some type of corn cake, and we bought souvenirs.
The Market is a mishmash of all matter of things, and the photos probably do a better job of showing what we saw than my descriptions. It was quite crowded which is also shown by the photos. Also, Laurie started to feel not so great during our day out. 
The locks are of Camden, which the market borders. There are boats that still use the locks, but more for tourist cruises than commerce
Yesterday on the plane, a wheezing, hacking, and coughing toddler was allowed to wander up and down the aisle on the plane by an irresponsible parent. They should have kept the child in their seat for a multitude of reasons, but the parent just turned a two year old loose to wander alone on the plane. The kid stopped right in front of Laurie and hacked right on her.
At this point Laurie said “it will be a miracle if I don’t get sick from that kid.” 24 hours later, almost to the minute, she starts feeling like she has acquired a cold. Laurie says the next pandemic will be caused by an irresponsible parent letting a sick toddler infect the world. We were not amused, nor was the flight crew that was working right in the area and were hacked on as well. 
I find it amusing that the cleanest, nicest, most organized stall in the place was the skinhead/punk rock stall.
We decide to head back to Earls Court where we are staying. We drop our purchases at the hotel, hang out a short while, and head back out. We intend to go to a nearby neighborhood pub, frequented mostly by locals. We’ll figure out something about dinner while we’re out.
On the way, Laurie sticks her head inside of a neighborhood church with a sign on the door welcoming visitors. It is a simple and functional church, unlike the incredibly ornate churches other places in Europe. They have a sign up with a photo of a new staff member they are welcoming named Pushkin which Laurie was quite amused by. She ran into this Pushkin character in the church as well. 
New church staff member
We arrive at The Scarsdale Tavern, the pub we were looking for. We passed other pubs along the way with a few patrons, but this place was full. Lots of locals having a drink before heading home or out for the evening. We sat outside under heat lamps and enjoyed a beer (an ale for me, I’m off antibiotics now so I can have one) and relax. When we’re done we start our quest for a place to eat.
We wind up at a Chinese restaurant on the same block as our hotel. The area we are staying in has restaurants from all over the world and I have to say, the Chinese restaurant was simply excellent. After a great meal, we headed back to our hotel for the evening and preparation for our flight tomorrow. 
The Scarsdale Tavern, a real neighborhood pub. Nice place!
We head down to the lobby to hang out, write the blog, and have a cup of tea to finish out the day. The hotel lobby in Europe is different than in the states. The rooms are very small here, and instead of sitting in the room, people gather in the lobby to play cards, socialize, have a drink, or in my case write the blog. It works out well, and we’ve had a great but simple day.
We fly tomorrow, non-stop from London to Nashville. We hope to arrive around suppertime tomorrow and be home at a decent hour. This trip has been a bit more difficult than our past trips and we will discuss this at length in our recap post. I think our experiences this trip will affect how we travel in the future. 
The street our hotel is on. If you look on the left, a small green sign notes our hotel. The old buildings are adapted into hotels, and the rooms tend to be a bit of a hodgepodge.
I may or may not post something tomorrow, depending on how much time we have. Expect to read the full recap in a week or so, once we have had time to reflect and put together our thoughts. We’ll also put up photos that we haven’t used in the daily blogs. We have hundreds and hundreds of photos so we have a lot that haven’t been seen yet. There are a few more in the gallery below from today.
Laurie and I thank you all for following along. It’s been quite difficult at times but I hope we’ve been able to show you something that would spark your interest in venturing out and seeing the world. It’s pretty amazing out here…..even if you’re not running at 100 percent. Goodnight everyone. |
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