So this morning we went on a boat tour that left from Camden Town-I was kind of wary because I remembered seeing a Samantha Brown (London travel) episode where she visited Camden Market, and the only word that came to mind when I thought of the episode was "sketchy". As in, sketchy place, sketchy people--didn't really sound like my kind of scene. But the boat tour was "class" for the day-ideal-so the trio hopped on the tube and made our way over to the right stop (and we got it on the first try--success).
Once we finally got to our meeting spot, I was warming up to the place: lots of cool little shops that we ducked into, the area was filled with all sorts of interesting people (I love people-watching!), and I knew there had to be tasty food somewhere (duh, motivation). This was our first look at the scene (note the "camden lock"-it will come back later):
Unfortunately for us, it was cold, cold, COLD by the water, and of course no one had the proper clothing on, because who knew it would be freezing! Off to a good start. We all somehow managed to fit on this narrow little canal boat-yes, all 29 of us, PLUS Chilson, Perabo, Chase, and Brady-and we had a guide telling us what we were seeing along the ride. Lots of water, tons of people walking and biking-it seems like everyone here is SUPER active all of the time-and some festive foliage:
We passed by a lot of house boats, as well as some CLASSY homes-read: mansions-(I'd happily take one, any day) by the canal, and learned some history about the area...but honestly, it was kind of a lame tour. I'm not really sure how it related to our class at all, and the houses we saw reminded me of being in Newport (I know obviously not everyone has been there, but my mind was not blown). Also, the freezing aspect did not really lend anything to the experience! But it was nice to relax and people-watch, for sure. Here's a boat similar to the one we were on:
Towards the end of the tour came the exciting part: we got to go through a lock! Basically, the purpose of a lock is to help transport boats through different levels of water, and make canals, etc. easier to navigate. Now this one in particular happened to be a "twin-lock" system, and has been around since the 1880s-not too shabby. I was kind of freaking out because all of the sudden this water was rushing around us, and we were trapped in a small area (the lock) while our guide was moving some levers and things around outside the boat-we drew quite the crowd!! Typical. It was definitely cool to see and experience the process, rising up and down with the water levels, and taking a little trip back in time.
We had lunch in the market and then hopped back on the tube to get ready for the rest of the afternoon. Proms in the Park later!
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment