Camden Town

I've been meaning to listen to Eels for a while now, and I finally did when my friend Marta made me a mixtape comprising the song "Little Bird". The day after that I bought "End Times". I highly recommend it! And that is all as far as music is concerned (for today).

I haven't updated this blog in a long time because I've been enjoying summer and holidays. In a few weeks I'll be back to university again and so I wanted to get away from everything! But now I'm back and ready to keep translating the entries I posted on my Spanish blog - and hopefully I'll do it more frequently.

So, Camden Town. Since this is a blog about London, I guess I have to talk about this market. Even though it's not my favorite place in London, it does have plenty of interesting and even amazing stuff - it's so big that it would be hard not to find something one likes. And since it is so big, I will only talk about the area I liked the most - the Horse Tunnel Market, in the Stables Market - and let you discover the rest on your own.


Just so you know, over a 100,000 people walk around Camden Town during the weekend, and so the Camden Town tube station closes on Sundays from 13h to 17h (i.e., you can't go in but if you come from somewhere else you can get out). Mornington Crescent is not too far, though, so it's not that big of a deal. I also recommend you try avoiding going there on Saturday or Sunday because, as I said, it's crowded.

The stalls I like the most in this area of the market are the vintage ones (there is also a pretty nice toy store). You will find old trunks and suitcases (quite affordable, by the way), telephones, second-hand books, maps, old magazines and newspapers, etc.


I couldn't find rubber stamps though, and I'm a huge fan of those, but there are tons in Angel on Saturdays and sometimes at the Portobello Market (about which I will talk soon).

What you will definitely find is a lot of second-hand clothes.


Nice and useful flannel now that autumn is slowly approaching (not in Spain though...). Oh and don't come thinking these clothes will be all cheap, because for instance, these shirts cost 15 pounds... okay, it's not that expensive, but I thought you should know. There were also some Ray-Ban sunglasses for over 60 pounds. I also tell you this because this year has been the first time I've gone to tons of second-hand clothing stores and I always thought everything would be much cheaper. I guess it also depends on what you buy and where! Anyway. It rules. If only because of all the awesome maps.

French's Theatre Bookshop

Dear friends, it's too hot in this city. But I'm home eating cherries and listening to Uncle Tupelo so it's alright.

Today I'm going to talk about another nice bookstore: French's Theatre Bookstore, a shop specialized in drama (mainly English - the name French comes from Samuel French, the second owner of the store, which he acquired in 1872), located at 52, Fitzroy Street (not too far from Marylebone High Street, where the Daunt bookstore is).


You may not be really interested in this library since they mostly sell drama, but if you really like literature, then I highly recommend it. Until recently I'd never been interested in drama, but this year I took a course called 'Modern British Theatre After '56" and I loved it, so if you have the time go check the store.

They also sell biographies, guides and other books about theatre (in all of its aspects, like staging, acting, etc.) and they have a few novels.


To put it in a NUTHSELL (hilarious expression, I must say), I like it. A lot. And they are really nice and there's discounts for students.

Before I leave, I'll tell you about some plays I've really enjoyed in case you don't know what to read:

- Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot
- Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party
- John Osborne, Look Back In Anger
- Peter Shaffer, Equus

Goodbye.

Hunky Dory Vintage

On 226, Brick Lane, one can find the store pictured on this entry: Hunky Dory.

It's a little shop that sells second-hand clothing. As you enter, on the left, you'll find men's clothing, and to the right, women's. The shop is small (it's basically what you see on the picture) so there isn't a huge variety of items, but the ones that they sell are pretty cool (which is not always the case in vintage shops) and affordable. I always thought second-hand clothes would be really cheap, but this year I've found out I was wrong. Of course a lot of things are not expensive at all, but the ones I like the most (such as corduroy blazers) are quite expensive! Anyway it's understandable, since what they sell is most of the time in very a good condition.

Personally, as I told you, I'm a fan of the men's blazers you'll find on the left and the little box full of bowties close to the window.


The staff is also very nice and the changing rooms are not too small. All in all, it's a cozy shop, and it is much more attractive than the other ones on that street (and there are a lot!).

Basically, if you like thrift shops and vintage clothes make sure you check Brick Lane and the surrounding area, especially Spitalfields Market (on Thursdays), but I'll talk about that in another post.

Peace!

Any Amount Of Books

Dear friends, I'm back home after a pretty cool year abroad, and really happy about it (though I do miss London). But I still have a lot of things to talk about here, so let's go.

We've already established (at least I have) that bookstores are the best thing ever, and if they're beautiful, then it's even better. In this case, we're not talking about the prettiest bookstore in London, but it's located in a very nice area (namely Charing Cross Road), where one can find many interesting (and often cheap) bookstores... and in this case, it is basically because Any Amount of Books is a second-hand bookshop.


This bookstore's catalog is available online on their website, but as I saw when I went there, they have a lot of different books from a huge variety of genres. I even found a couple of plays from my Modern British Theatre After '56 course (and for only 2 pounds!). Aside from having hundreds of second-hand books, they have books that are otherwise quite hard to find (although I don't suppose any of you are looking for rarities...) (but hey, who knows), and, what I found most odd and funny, leather books to decorate the house! So if you're looking to redecorate your house and want to emulate Dumbledore's office, this is the place to go (although beware! for each book costs between 10 and 15 pounds).


To sum it up, it's a pretty cool place. Also, they open from 10h30 to 21h30 every day, something quite uncommon in this city where everything usually closes around 18h!

P.S.: Since this is my blog... I will promote myself! A friend and I recently built a simple website to show my photography... You can check it out here. I hope you like it!

Brick Lane Coffee

Dear Internauts of the new decade: today, June, 5, is a beautiful day and I turn 22. Just thought I'd let you know. And while I listen to Toundra, I introduce you to the Brick Lane Coffee.

Now that summer's on its way (although in London you never now), this café comes in handy as you can either go in to avoid the heat or stay outside to enjoy the sun.

Brick Lane Coffee is a really small café that is, as its name indicates, located on 157, Brick Lane. It seems that it used to go by another name as part of a chain of cafés that closed in 2009, but apart from the name change, the café is still pretty much the same.


On the inside, which, as I mentioned, is not especially big, you will find sofas, chairs and tables that are slightly KITSCH (at least when I went there they were), and there's usually quite a bit of people. The coffee is allegedly good, but I can't prove it since I'm not really into coffee. But I can tell you that the hot chocolate (with or without soy milk) is pretty good (and boiling, so be patient my friends). You can also find different kinds of sweets like muffins, cookies, etc. It may not be different than any other café, but I like that it's small and doesn't belong to a big chain. Also, it's in a really COOL area.


Maybe now that the weather's warmer you won't want a hot beverage, but I'm sure they have ice teas and stuff like that now. So there!