Monday - Going home time!

Monday morning arrived, and the start of the week for most (if not all) of London, wheras for me and my brother it was the last day of a 3 day trip where we had taken in a lot, on numerous tube journeys it might be said. After a bit of breakfast and catching up with Saturday's 'Match Of The Day' where our teams both won (my brother's quite resoundingly, to be fair, although my team where involved in the biggest controversy that weekend!), our cousin kindly took us to King's Cross Station. We planned to visit Camden and it's delightful markets, and also my brother wanted to go down Oxford Street again. After leaving our bags with Lost luggage to save dregging them around London all day, we walked the short distance to Euston, to get the Northern Line to Camden Town. Upon arriving in Camden at approximately 11.45, we headed straight for the world famous markets that it is known for. Walking down the high street, I seemed to notice that every third shop was either a clothes shop, a tattoo/piecing place or a place selling souvenirs! At the end of these street, where it meets a junction was a furniture shop with this outside the front:

I also took a picture of the sign on the railway bridge:

At this point, it was getting on, so headed for the markets and agreed would get something to eat from within the many food stalls that we eventually saw. My god there were loads of them! All types of food you can imagine, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Brazilian and even Lebanese food! After going past numerous food stalls pestering us to try a sample, we opted for some Chinese food, my brother for some Sweet and Sour and rice, wheras I opted for Noodles and a mixture of all sorts. Now the next bit will be mentioning something horrid, if you're eating, you might want to skip this paragraph:

So once we'd got some food, we found somewhere to sit, outside this pub right by the canal. I had just about finished my lunch when suddenly, I saw this rat run straight past me through a drainpipe! Even as I write this, I can't get the image out of my head. *Shudders* Don't know where it came from, or where the drainpipe lead to, but that has been my first (and so far last!) London rat I have seen!

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After eating Lunch, we explored the market a little more and all it's trinkets of stalls, and after checking out a few record shops (always good to browse, even if you're not buying anything). It was near the entrance to the market that I saw a record stall and in this box on the floor I noticed contained a record which as part of it's tracklisting contained one of THE BEST remixes I have ever heard; Grant Nelson's remix of 'Get on Up' by Jodeci. Might not appeal to everyone but here it is anyway:

and here's the original for your listening pleasure:

It was just past one, and my brother wanted to head back into Oxford Street to buy a t-shirt for himself and our dad and to try and buy a Ralph Lauren shoes. But not before I got some good pictures on the bridge over the canal:

"Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn".. in Camden

Other side of the bridge (see earlier)

After what seemed like hours walking around (it had probably been one) we found the Ralph Lauren shop that my brother had desired in Bond Street. However, our joy (mostly his) was shortlived as they didn't have want he wanted! On the bright side though we did go past Sotherby's, the auctioneers:

Not to be deterred, we headed for Oxford street once again for gifts. Whilst my brother bought two t-shirts, I opted for two fridge magnets that looked like street signs; one for our fridge, and one for my sister and her boyfriend. I also bought two albums from the giant HMV in Oxford Street; Dj Food – 'The Search Engine' and Kode 9 - 'Black Sun'. At this time, it was late in the afternoon and the train I'd originally selected as a departure on the Monday, had long gone (that was 2.37 pm!), so we both agreed to go back to King's Cross to pick up our bags, and try and get the 16:37 train, to arrive at Warwick Parkway for around 18:05. After getting our bags from the Lost Luggage place at Kings Cross and paying the employee on duty (who looked like a bit of a psycho it must be said, but probably a nice bloke in real life) the privelege of £25, we made our last journey from King's Cross to Baker Street tube station, where, via a stop at the Tesco we first stepped into that Saturday afternoon, to stock up on bottles of Coke, we walked the last 300 yards or so to Marylebone Train Station and left London to end the three day adventure where we'd packed a lot in, stayed in different parts of London and generally made the most of it.

Epilogue

Across the weekend I'd found a pirate radio station, Kool Fm for those interested,a singing busker on the day Whitney Houston died, experienced inner city London North and South and walked past many of its residents. 

The journey itself takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes and goes through mostly countryside, which can be very scenic during the journey. However, it is once the train is going through North West London that confirms to me that we are nearly at Marylebone. Observing closely packed houses, overlooking roads that contain the Red Buses, the outer Tube train depots and the multiple lines at the outer Tube stations, it's almost like another world, even though they're parts of London. Most people visiting London wouldn't naturally go to these places, they will of course go past them (unless their travelling by air). It's all very different to the centre of London of course, where it's mostly commercial buildings and a higher density of people.