Regent's Canal

Posted on 2012/08/27 11:24:49 (August 2012).

[Sunday 26th August 2012]
I had a craving to go somewhere glamorous / exotic this weekend - perhaps a return visit to Venice or Monaco - but that would obviously be a bit irresponsible with the baby due quite imminently. So instead we had to make do with some sort of substitute that wouldn't involve leaving London - and we decided to go and visit Little Venice instead.

It isn't really a lot like Venice proper - there's no Venetian Gothic or Byzantine architecture to be seen - but I suppose it was sort of pleasant in its own way. We took a boat trip from there along the Regent's Canal to Camden Lock. Much of the route was not particularly scenic - St. John's Wood Substation sticks particularly in my mind - but there were occasional glimpses of some grand houses with large gardens sweeping down to the canal. In particular one house just before we arrived in Camden with a mature and leafy garden backing on to the canal, with children playing, and a jetty on the water to moor a boat, looked rather idyllic.

On arrival in Camden we were greeted by the familiar smells of joss sticks and the mildew of "vintage" clothes. I was reminded why we haven't been here for a long time - it just doesn't interest me. All of this "alternative" culture seems to have become just as much a stereotype as anything traditional or mainstream. I felt ironically quite rebellious in my brogues, cufflinks, herringbone jacket and pocket square. We had a quick look round but soon found ourselves wanting to get away from the crowds and instead head in the direction of Primrose Hill.

We sat there for a while, before starting to head in the direction of dinner. We stopped off en route at a pub for a drink, but even with that diversion ended up at the restaurant about half an hour before our booking.

I thought it would be fitting with our canal themed day out to have dinner at the Feng Shang Princess - the floating Chinese restaurant on the Regent's Canal. We'd spotted it before - probably over a decade ago when I was living in Hampstead - and so it was nice to actually finally go in. The food was actually of a decent standard, and they had a reasonable selection of vegetarian dishes on the menu. The highlight was probably rhe mock "chicken" with sugar snap peas, which had a tasty black pepper sauce.

After dinner we walked to Camden, along a street called Parkways, which was surprisingly lively and full of shops and restaurants, and I wonder how it was we'd never walked down here before.

Quite enoyed lolling about the flat for the remainder of the evening. Watched some of Brideshead Revisited on the telly - particularly the bit in Venice, and whilst we'd had quite a pleasant day out was left with the definite sense that Little Venice hadn't really satisfied that craving!

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