London - Day 3

A lovely day for my last one in London – but what a lot of walking!  It was actually less than I’d initially planned – my thought had been to walk up to Paddington Basin, and follow the Regent’s Canal – about 2.5 miles.  But I walked past the Basin and over the bridge at Little Italy – and there was one of the canal boats ready to go, so I took the chance. 

Little Italy

Backing up to allow another boat through the tunnel

Little Venice is one of those London corners that a lot of people don’t know about – I think the name was given by poet Robert Browning, when he returned from Europe after Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death. If you are a gongoozler, you like hanging around canals and watching boats – and there were a number of gongoozlers around today. A lot of the canal is lined by canal boats in various states of repair, which are used as homes – though I don’t think it’s exactly a cheap option.

Camden basin

Camden locks, from the other side

In the event, I was happier gongoozling from the boat – the pathway is varied and there are some messy and graffiti-decorated bits.  We passed the London Zoo and saw the colobus monkeys high up in their enclosure – but there were more expensive homes to be seen than zoo creatures. The boat trip ended at Camden, and a little taste of the market there was too much – so much stuff! There were a lot of tourists, so I guess it sells...

Covent Garden live entertainment

Decided it was just a bit too posh for my cat T-shirt

I hopped on a bus and headed south to Leicester Square and then walked east into Covent Garden – much nicer as a market!  There’s a nice restaurant high up in the Opera House, and I almost went there for a coffee, but I wasn’t really feeling dressed for the ROH, and substituted it for the cafe at the National Portrait Gallery. No photos, and I bypassed the oldest ones, but had a good time with the 19th/20th century floors. I wasn’t able to track down any of the Painter-of-the-Year artists I’d binge-watched with Eileen in Ireland – I guess they must be in another venue.

One of the Whitehall memorials

Doesn't really need labelling....

Then more walking – this time down Whitehall to Westminster. The sun came out and the Houses of Parliament’s gilt sparkled. My original plan had been for Evensong at the Abbey, but instead, they were offering a choral Eucharist at St Margaret’s Church, which is on the corner facing Parliament. It’s apparently the feast day of St Margaret of Antioch. I’d think the Abbey choir is on hiatus now; this was sung by a 10 voice St Margaret’s Consort. Bruckner “Locus Iste”; Victoria “Missa O Quam Gloriosum” and a premier performance of “Expectans Expectavi” by Gareth Treseder – never heard of him, but a very effective piece. Female sopranos, but all-male clergy...  The only St Margaret I knew of was St Margaret of Scotland;  this Margaret was apparently so virtuous that when the devil, in the form of a dragon, swallowed her down, her goodness and the crucifix she wore irritated his insides so much he spit her out again!  Hmmm....

St Margaret's Church

Another bus, up to Marble Arch, and a walk up Edgeware Road, which is very middle-Eastern in feeling – Lebanese, Moroccan, Iranian at least. My Kindle has died on me (or at least is dying fast – a charge barely lasts a couple of hours) but I was able to find a replacement at an Argos store, and I’ll charge it up tonight and have all my reading material ready for travelling tomorrow.  A turn on to Praed Street, towards Paddington, and suddenly the restaurants are all Greek and Turkish – a little souvlaki for dinner before everything has to be repacked.