london || quirky camden lock
The plan was to ride the tube from St.Paul’s station and exit at Camden Town. I really did not know what to expect from this place, except I knew it wasn't going to be the London I envisioned. When we got off the tube, the first thing that caught my attention were the strange and quirky shops lined side by side. The decorations on all of them were kind of odd, peculiar, and very eccentric. There were all kinds of shops, normal and bizarre, name it and they’ve got it. The line up included unique souvenir, hemp, book, piercing and tattoo, costume, record shops and many more.
Walking the streets, we found ourselves immersed in an alternative culture where locals are not afraid to express themselves and show their very distinct identities. Even London punks were dressed as one would expect, only they are more noticeable because they were in groups.
Besides the quirky shops, Camden Lock is also famous for its open food markets. This was the most memorable part of our visit. Actually, it was an accidental discovery on our part when we saw the food stalls. A good accidental discovery at that. We were seeing smoke from afar and with every whiff came the aroma of delicious food. Stomachs grumbling, we walked towards the aroma and to our surprise there were loads of food stalls.
Lots of cultures were represented in these food carts! They were selling Galician octopus, Spanish tortilla, Indian curries, Chinese dumplings, French crepes, different kinds of cakes and pastries, Italian pizza, English fish and chips, Ethiopian food, Turkish wraps, and the list goes on. We settled for the freshly cooked Spanish paella as well as the Polish and German sausages and finished it off with a sweet ending of Brazilian Churros. If you decide to go, and I recommend you really do, you SHOULD NOT miss the food stalls and experience the food. It would be a sin and I’ll leave it at that.
