little venice

a secret part of london, tucked away in the north. i didn't even know of it, until it popped up in conversation with the friends i'm staying with here, in london. it reaches out along a small section of the regent's & grand union canal. you can follow the canal more or less continuously as it snakes its way quietly across london. a closer look on my dear old london map told me that it actually connects up with the canal that winds through camden locks. small world london.

jumping off at marble arch tube station, i wandered through mayfair - along old bond street with it's haute couture boutiques, before visiting selfridges (a harrod's equivalent) on oxford street. having not topped up my oyster card & not intending on doing so, i walked up towards the north of london...

since i didn't make it up to regent's park yesterday, i ultimately decided to have a peek in there before wandering along the canal to little venice. it felt, to me, just as huge as hyde park. i made a bee-line for queen mary's gardens - a circular section of regent's park. there were water features, rose gardens, a lake & an open-air theatre just in this tiny section of the overall park. gives you some scope of how large this london green is! something i noticed, both yesterday & today, is that people can pay to have a personal dedication in 'the royal parks'. in regent's park, these are in the form of engraved posts in the ground & gardens. some were just of people's names, some were lovey-dovey and some were just plain weird. 

i met up with regent's canal at the top of the park, near the london zoo. a bit further along the canal is where all the boats are moored. this part came to life with each boardwalk covered in brightly-coloured potplants, twinkling fairy lights, post-boxes, lanterns, iron-cast tables & chairs, etc... it's almost as though there's a competition as to who can have the funkiest section of the canal. 

little venice is even further along, once regent's turns into the grand union canal. it's a triangular basin that was named by the english poet, robert browning in the late 1800s - because the canal & its ambiance reminded him of that in venice. i've never been to venice (not yet, anyway!), so i wouldn't know...but it's definitely what i imagine venice to be like. to sum it all up in three words: quaint, beautiful & peaceful.

S.