What we experienced walking to the Earl's Court tube station Tuesday morning, October 7. England Scotland Heritage Tour, 2014, from Trafalgar

Breakfast at the hotel. We made the decision to walk to Earl's Court tube station which would allow us to take a single line to Covent Garden, our destination for the day. Well, until I would have to split off in order to meet my friend Richard Taylor for our exciting time at the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand. The whole walk, we kept saying, "Look at this sunshine. These blue skies. I am so glad we decided to walk because we got to see this lovely street." (I found Eardley Crescent on Google Maps. It's just as pretty to take that walk with the Google Street View man since Google shot it on a sunny day.) It had been pouring rain the day before when we rode in from Heathrow and still drizzling off and on when we went to visit Camden Market and then back to the hotel. Sunshine, on our second and last free day in London--brilliant!



I dare you to walk by this entrance and not take a photo. Picturesque and appealing are just two words that come to mind when I look at my own photo of it.



These steps fascinated me. I immediately asked Juliet to stand at the top for a photo, completely forgetting that someone inside might open the door at any moment. Thankfully that didn't happen because I got to take this pretty photo of her! I like how her sweater and slacks match the colors on the house, as does her purse. In fact, the angle of her bag matches the angle of the handrail. Serendipity! Oh, would you be able to walk up and down that design on a daily basis? I probably could without my motion sickness bracelets, once my brain was used to having it at my feet.



Purple flowers on the window sill.



Red flowers on the window sill of a house a few steps away from the one with the purple flowers.



Now, that's a fancy way to display your address, isn't it? Right there on the pillar beside your front door. But it was the unique window that caught my eye--I didn't notice the address until I had uploaded the photo to Flickr.



We turned left onto Warwick Road and could see the Earl's Court tube station down the block. See the white rectangular sign with the red circle that has a blue line through it? The blue line reads Underground in white letters. That marks the entrance to the station. Guess what? On the Google Map of that tube station, the sign in my photography had not yet been installed. I'm certainly glad it was there when we needed to see it! The locked bicycles caught my eye next. I ended up taking several photos of bicycles locked up like these in several locations on the tour. I don't remember seeing any bicycles on the underground trains, nor do I remember seeing any place to hang a bicycle by its front wheel like we have on the MAX Light Rail trains in Portland. I cannot imagine holding onto a bicycle on those multi-story escalators in many of the tube stations. More on those in tomorrow's post.

We weren't the only ones tired on our tube ride back to our hotel. England Scotland Heritage Tour, 2014, from Trafalgar

Several thoughts ran through my mind as I watched this young man. He's gonna drop that cell phone. Someone's gonna walk by and lift it right out of his hand. He's gonna miss his stop. Well, none of that happened while I sat across from him. The fact that I could stay awake enough to have all of those thoughts thrilled me, as did the realization that I would soon be stretched out on the bed in our hotel in London.



When you get where you're going, you get off the train and look for this sign. Glad to see it at 5:11 p.m., London time. Happy that I'd had such a fine late lunch and didn't have all that far to walk once on the sidewalk. Especially after I made an incorrect decision at the last station where we had to change tube lines, delaying our following the Way Out sign up to the street by close to an hour. Whew. Tired. Ready to rest up for Tuesday.

Camden Lock Market and the lock - England Scotland Heritage Tour 2014, from Trafalgar

Out of focus because I never thought to check the setting on the camera after getting it out of my back, until later! After our delicious, satisfying, and fortifying lunch at Simply Fish, we set out down the block to Camden Market (I never heard anyone call it Camden Lock Market, but that's what's on their Web site and on those two signs visible in the photo.). Juliet had been there in the past and wanted to explore as much of it as possible. There she is in the green jacket and jeans, turning left just past the end of the bridge over the lock. (Photos of the lock coming later in the post.) Myself--a bit sore from sitting on the plane for so long, then walking so much through the airports and tube stations--weighed down with my bag, my camera, my own lack of physical stamina, decided to take it slowly, to see what I could see. Unfortunately before it was all over, my slowness caused us to lose each other for a while. In the end, though, we were together again.



My first stop, this scarf stall. I bought two, not the dry-clean-onlies, but some beauties nevertheless! They're somewhere in those folded ones on the table to the right in this photo. I had a time making up my mind and settling for just two!



The view just across from the scarf stall. I have no idea which section of the huge market I stood in, but I do know that I like this ceiling and all of the wrought iron. Here's a bit I found on the Web about the markets: The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent's Canal (popularly referred to as Camden Lock), often collectively named "Camden Market" or "Camden Lock". Among products sold on the stalls are crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, and fast food. It is the fourth-most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 100,000 people each weekend. I am thankful we were there on a Monday!



I found some wrought iron steps to rest on--this is the view out into what looks to have been a courtyard at some point. These stalls fill it now, offering protection from the elements for the vendors. Cool, windy, a bit drizzly. Just about like Portland!



I walked outside to look at the canal and noticed water pouring into it. Hmmmm. What would I see next?



This is Regent's Canal. Are you able to tell the difference in the water's height in the foreground of the photo and in the background?

A bit from the Web: Camden Lock, or Hampstead Road Locks is a twin manually operated lock on the Regent's Canal in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden. The twin locks together are "Hampstead Road Lock 1"; each bears a sign so marked. Hawley lock and Kentish Town lock are a short distance away to the east; there are no nearby locks to the west.

The locks were constructed between 1818 and 1820 by James Morgan, with John Nash, supervising engineer. It is the only twin-lock remaining on the Canal, the remainder having been modified to single lock operation. The current locks are Grade II listed and replaced an innovative, but unsuccessful, hydropneumatic lock designed by William Congreve in an attempt to conserve water.

The lock is to the west of the Camden High Street road bridge. The yard and former warehouses, an area known as Camden Lock, are on the north side of the canal, at the junction with Chalk Farm Road. This area is adjacent to a canal basin and holds Camden Lock Market, one of the group of markets often called collectively Camden Market. It is a busy market popular with visitors, with music venues, cafes and canal towpath walks.



A coupled worked diligently to get their riverboat through the lock. He's attempting to hear what she's trying to tell him, but she's at the other end of the long boat, hand on the rudder. Tiller? I don't know for sure.



The boat's top became more visible as water continued to pour into the lock. He's turning a crank which looks to be taking quite an effort from him.



Discussion continues as the boat rises.



On the left of the photo, he's been pushing on the gate-opening panels, pushing for all he was worth for at least a minute. She's on the right of the photo, keeping the boat off the wall.



Back on board, she's steering the boat through the gates.



Looks like she's done this before!



The goal, not to hit the bridge!



Now he's working to close the gates again while she keeps the boat where she wants it.



Gates closing, she's pulling a rope from the boat to a bollard on shore.



One gate closed, he makes his way across the lock so that he can close the other. She holds the boat in place.



Success for the boat people and for Juliet and me. I walked away from watching and found Juliet looking for me. We walked over to the edge of the canal so that I could show her what I'd been photographing, and I got to take this photo, too!

Two of the three pairs of shoes that made the trip with me. My first hot meal of the trip. England Scotland Heritage Tour, 2014, from Trafalgar

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My T-I-R-E-D feet are in the plaid slip-ons. I wore them on departure day, not wanting to be slowed down by having to tie shoes at the airports in Portland and Calgary. I changed to the Saucony's in the middle of the photo for our first outing in London on Monday, October 6. Once we left our hotel, Ibis Earl's Court on the Lillie Road, we took three tube trains, the District, Piccadilly, and Northern Lines, to Camden Market. Tired fun was the order of the day! Back at the hotel, the plaids served as slippers.



Back to our fun! Once we exited the Camden Market tube station, this large orange sign grabbed my attention. Since one of my goals on this trip was to eat some flaky, delicious British fish and chips, I pointed it out to Juliet. We crossed the street, talked with a nice young man giving out information about their specials and gladly accepted his help through the doorway.



Once we stepped inside, we knew instantly we were in the right place. The young man explained to the two lovely young ladies who ended up waiting on us that we were hungry and interested in their menu.



Can you tell from my photo the perfection of this lunch? Flaky haddock, piping hot chips, fresh mint peas and authentic Italian salsa verde--the young ladies were Italian, so they should know! I cannot remember exactly, but I think it was 3:30 or later London time when we ate and neither one of us needed another meal that day. Satisfied to the Nth degree with our meal--Juliet had grilled mackerel--we got directions to Camden Market from the same young man out and the sidewalk and made our way to the shops.

Open.

The Players Club card room is no more--I noticed it on the Labor Day weekend Sunday. I thought this photo would be fitting for today's post because my Trafalgar tour ends today with a long, long, long flight home. However, I plan to be open, 24 hours a day I don't know about, but open for blogging and getting my Pacific Northwest legs beneath me again after having been in Europe since October 6. I return to work on October 20. Thank goodness for my earned vacation hours!

My favorite steam locomotive, the SP 4449 at Union Station

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My brother Howard came to visit on a Friday, flying in from Jackson, Mississippi. The next morning, October 20, 2012, we got up early in order not to miss the SP 4449 steaming out of Union Station, pulling the Deschutes Steam Special vintage rail cars on an excursion from Portland to Bend and back the next day. We stood around for a long time, waiting for a few memorable moments up close and personal with this beautiful machine. It was worth every bit of effort, every bit.