Camden Market, 1

After our disappointment at Portobello, we wanted to try another London market. There are, of course, many to choose from. Bloomsbury, where our flat is, is in Camden Borough, and Camden Town, a mile up the road, has one of the better known markets. Descriptions we read suggested it was not antiques-oriented. Actually, as we found, it is rather eclectic and youth-oriented, at least relative to us. But we thought it would be interesting and so on Saturday, August 14, we gave it a try. It turned out to be one of our best London experiences, indeed, possibly, our best "shopping" experience ever...which is saying something considering the great variety of markets we have done over the years, starting in China and India, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and so on. The Camden Market is London's 4th largest visitor attraction, at 250,000 per week, and I'd say, if you're visiting, make sure it's on your list, preferably on the weekend. Most of what's there is in the extensive former horse stables and hospital. Camden was a transportation hub from the early 19th century into the mid-20th; a  nexus of roads, railroads, and the Regent's Canal, brought food, goods and raw materials from the north into the city. Until the 20th, much of this was done by horse, hauling wagons or towing barges on the canal. But I digress. Let the pix speak.

First sight upon getting off the bus...let's see:
"Lolita...Leather...Punk...Fetish...Steampunk"...
what kind of market is this?

As we soon discerned, the stores and cafes and such in Camden
have a very different look

And we learned many new and interesting terms,

like "CyberGoth," which are not in the Michelin

Green Guide

Small craft shops on both sides of alley; in accordance with our

previous market experience, except in Madrid, we got there early,

alas, too early for some of these shops

Just opening

"Our Founder"

At the "Dirty Vegan" restaurant

At "Rudy's 100% Vegan as F--k" restaurant

Now in the horse stables area

A mannequin; I think

Stables area

This shop available

Now entering the vintage clothes hall; best we have seen, ever,
anywhere

Vintage everything, actually

Now back into a more conventional retail alley...the Egypt shop

An Italian tuk-tuk converted into a a wood-burning pizza oven
caught our attention

Credible Neapolitan pizza; we later had lunch there; the menu
says "please don't ask for chicken or pineapple pizza"

Elephant pants, just like in Thailand; and baggy pants, just like in

Turkey; some vintage, some not

Hats of every description

The Town Crier, who circulates and obviously
enjoys his job, which is to make sure everyone is
having a good time

Dining pods outside one of the restos

In one of the antiques areas

St. Paul's: The Dome

Done with the church and the crypt, I headed for the dome staircase entrance. I have done several church domes and towers, often with Vicki: St. Peter's, Florence cathedral (twice), the Ulm Munster Spire, Notre Dame de Paris, Reims cathedral, the Seville cathedral tower, and probably more that don't come to mind presently. It's not an obsession: the views are always spectacular, and the sense of how these ancient buildings were put together is always fascinating. St. Paul's is by far the youngest of the ones I've done, yet it is fundamentally the same as the oldest of them: huge stones, friction, a bit of mortar. No steel girders nor concrete and rebar. But lots of ingenuity, even genius, and passion. St. Paul's, like St. Peter's, the Florence Duomo, and Notre Dame de Paris, has the advantage of revealing a great city below, one we have spent some weeks now exploring.

A broad staircase...for the first few stories

Three centuries of graffiti...everywhere 

The road narrowed

But the signage was good

After 300-some steps, I have arrived at the Stone Gallery, walked 

around it and taken some pix; only 12 persons at a time are permitted 

in the top-most Golden Gallery, so there was a bit of a wait; the 

Whispering Gallery, lower down, was closed for COVID; which 

was OK since I had no one to whisper to anyway 

Across the river, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, Southwark

Stone Gallery selfie

After a few more pix it was time to do the final summit push...

About midway between the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery,
the steps go around this window in the floor where you can look
down directly to the cathedral floor, precisely at the crossing

Thus

Finally, after a few score more steps, you arrive
at the Golden Gallery, as high as you can go

Nice day and the views are great...up river

I guess the grating must have been painted gold at one time

Paternoster square

City of London financial district, with second financial district
in the distance

Closer up

The Shard

Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern again

Closer up of the rotunda structure itself; lead; one German
incendiary bomb penetrated the rotunda, burned through the lead
and fell to the Stone Gallery, where firefighters put it out

Tower Bridge

Looking astern from the Golden Gallery

And out beyond Bloomsbury to St. Pancras and Kings Cross,
near our flat

The 500+ steps down--it's a one-way system--seemed
easier, although I took it easy, always using the handrail

Hundreds of feet of this...and then you're down...great experience!

St. Paul's: The Monuments

Well, a few of the ones I care or know about. Much of modern British history is represented in St. Paul's monuments...

One of the iconic photos of WWII, London burning the night of
December 29th, 1940, after a massive incendiary bombing by
the Germans, part of their "Baedeker" campaign to destroy British
historical and cultural monuments; this photo, "St. Paul's Survives,"
alone did much to steel British resolve, no matter what was ahead

Thus perhaps the cathedral's most important monument is outside,

across the street, the monument to the Fire Watchers and Fire Fighters

of those dark days

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Nelson, whose tomb is in the crypt

America's favorite British general, Cornwallis;
it wasn't his fault: read Barbara Tuchman's The
First Salute

My favorite British artist, Turner

John Donne, metaphysical poet and Dean of the
Cathedral

Wellington, general, victor, prime minister, gets
pride of place and largest monument, upstairs

In the crypt, Wren's tomb

"If you want to see my monument, look around you..."

A stone bearing Wren's mark; he lived to the ripe age of 90 to
see his son lay the Cathedral's final stone

In the crypt are seeming hundreds of memorials and monuments,
mostly military and naval; hey, you can't have an Empire without
military and naval strength!

Also in the crypt, not terribly helpful models of today's
Cathedral and 

Its predecessor

Nelson's tomb

Great movie!

Many of Churchill's important generals and admirals are here--he
and Clementine are at a simple parish church graveyard near
Blenheim--I include Monty largely to mention Hemingway's martini
recipe, which he called the "Montgomery": 15 parts gin to 1 part
vermouth, referring to the field marshal's reluctance to attack
until he had a crushing advantage in numbers and armor; see
A Sidecar Named Desire, an amusing book on writers and what
fueled them 

Wellington

And finally this, near the exit, past the gift shop: a plaque naming
all the most important memorials and monument lost in the Cathedral
in the Great Fire