London - day one

We woke late and had a slow breakfast. Helen went for a run through Holloway, which is an interesting suburb which dates from the early Victorian expansion of London, which means lots of large terraces, many of which have been specifically designed as flats. Our own building has a surprisingly large garden out the back - it seems that the (very large) block is fringed with buildings with the centre devoted to interlocking gardens of various sizes. We're in the basement flat facing the road. Thomas is in an odd internal bedroom with no window. We're hoping it might help him catch up on sleep. 

We've missed one of our rest days, so we took today slowly, walking down side streets to Camden. The pavement was icy in spots, and in the shadows by the Grand Union Canal it was quite chilly and damp.

We found the Camden lock, which is actually a complex of three locks, lifting or lowering barges up a surprisingly long way.

It looks like Thomas might be getting sick of being told to smile for photos.

We also found Camden lock market, which is a labyrinth of tiny shops and restaurants. We got lost at least twice, but Robert found the best coffee he has had in more than 5 weeks. Apparently the obsessions of London hipsters are the same as everywhere else. Or nearly the same. One unexpected twist was the Cereal Killer cafe - a cafe devoted to serving bowls of cereal, particularly the sort of cereal your mother never let you have as a child.

Thomas bought himself a flat cap - thanks again Grandparents!

We ate our sandwiches at the market and then walked on to Primrose Hill which has fantastic views South to the City. So far this trip we have rarely encountered hoards of tourists (one of the perks of travelling in Winter and in the country) but in London we're starting to see more. We hadn't noticed before, but it was usually possible to take photos without other people in the frame. Less possible in London, which is to be expected. So here are Robert and Thomas and two random German girls.

From Primrose Hill we could see the Post Office Tower, the Shard and the Gherkin (which probably has a real name as well).

We crunched on over the frozen mud to Regent's park.

As the sun dropped it started to get colder, so we stopped at the Park Cafe for hot chocolates and free wifi. One of the perks of getting Helen's phone back is that Thomas can catch Pokemon again. One of the limitations is that our sim card is in Robert's phone, so he can only catch Pokemon where we can get wifi for my phone.

We walked on to Baker St tube station, past 221B which had a little cluster of Asian students out the front. We headed home for early dinner before heading out again to the Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda, which was really excellent. Bruce Bogtrotter was a particular hit. Thomas sang and danced all the way home before collapsing into bed.