Camden Town

Camden Town is in London's north end and hosts several markets as well as being home to many of London's alternative clothing crowd, including punks, goths, cyber-punk, fetish, etc...  However, the market is at its busiest, and is best for people watching, on Sundays, so I was a little disappointed not to see too many of the alternative crowd out on Monday, although I did run into a boisterous crowd of Spanish Olympic supporters...

Still it was an interesting place to walk around, although I think I preferred the Portobello Market for the diversity and quality of merchandise and vendors.

After getting of the canal boat, you start in the food market, and there were stalls for every type of food you can think of, including African, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and of course, American. 

With all that choice, why did I choose American?  Well, first, it was the gourmet Mac+Cheese offering with cherry tomatoes and japapeno peppers.  But most importantly, it was for the "deep fried Oreos"...

Seating for your meal was also interesting, with a series of motorcycle seats facing the canal...

When I started walking through the market, it seemed to me that there were a lot of stalls selling cheap junk, tacky souvenirs, and T-shirts, although there were a lot of clothing vendors too...

As I mentioned, this is the mecca for alternative clothing, so there were also some stalls with interesting looking Goth outfits for women...

Plus some more "normal" looking dresses...

There was also a place that offered a "fish massage and pedicure"...

Leaving the lock market area, I headed in to Camden Town to find the tube station back to the hotel.  I think this area can get a little rowdy in the evenings.  I loved this sign...

Which seems to imply that nomally drinking is allowed on the streets!  I also found this goth-inspired pub called the Hobgoblin (also known as "the Dev", or Devonshire Arms) in Camden Town...

... and another locally famous pub called "The World's End"...

...previously known as the Old Mother Redcap, in reference to a creepy story about an unfortunate young woman (witch?) who supposedly lived on this site in the 17th century.

I did slip in here for a pint before heading home.  More to say about the beer here in a later post (I have one more place to visit, and try a beer or two, before I can write that post)...