Day 4 – 5 July 2019, Friday
It’s our fourth day in London and yet another sunny day with temperatures between 19 and 24 degrees Celsius. After having our breakfast at the hostel, we took a leisurely stroll to Camden Town, located about 2.5km away.
Camden is famous for its street markets and live music scene, and there are several markets located close to each other along the main thoroughfares of Camden High Street and Chalk Farm Road. The first one we encountered was Inverness Street Market, a small market with just a cluster of stalls occupying Inverness Street. One of my pit stops here was at Out On The Floor Records, a small record shop that is apparently Camden’s oldest. However, I didn’t manage to unearth any rare finds here.
Almost directly opposite Inverness Street Market is The Camden Market, also known as Buck Street Market because it is located right next to Buck Street. This small market focuses on clothes and the best way to describe it is a pasar malam selling Bangkok-quality goods at London prices. (i.e. go to Bangkok if you wanna buy these apparels)
Camden High Street is quite a happening street, with its two rows of shops sporting oversized displays like dragons and scorpions designed to lure curious passersby into their interiors. It’s a little gaudy, but all in good fun.
Upon reaching Regent Canal, we took a left turn and saw a fancy-looking Starbucks with a façade that looks like castle battlements. We walked past it and crossed a footbridge to the other side of the canal, which brought us to Camden Lock. The lock in Camden Lock refers to the gates at each end of the canal, within which the water level may be varied to raise or lower boats.
Camden Lock is a lively area with many eateries selling food to go, like pizza, hotdogs, fish & chips and more. The outdoor seating area is ideal for friends to catch up and take a break while basking in the summer sun. I bought a bottle of fresh orange juice (£2.50) and it was the perfect thirst quencher. There is also Camden Lock Market, a small market building with a steel and glass canopy.
Located next to Camden Lock is the Stables Market. The name derives from its history as a horse stable and horse hospital (can we call it a horsepital?). In the past, the stables housed as many as 400 horses as the majestic beasts were used to pull trains, train parts and barges along the canal. Injured horses would be treated at the hospital.
I found a huge CD and record shop called Wild Horses Music here at Stables Market. There was a very wide range of titles available and it took me some time to go through all of them. I was tempted to buy a few but I managed to resist.
Adjoining the Stables Market is the Horse Tunnel Market, which features stalls selling vintage clothes, antiques and curios. The goods on offer are pretty eclectic and it’s nice to browse through, even though you may not necessarily buy anything.
The last market is simply known as Camden Market. Some say it is part of Stables Market. In fact, the markets flow seamlessly from one another so you won’t really be able to distinguish them. Here, you’ll find yet more food stalls and shops selling apparel, more of the same.
One particular shop that stands out is Cyberdog. The shop’s entrance is guarded by a pair of metallic cyborgs, standing at about 12 feet tall. You won’t miss them for sure. Cyberdog sells futuristic fashion, club wear and underground urban wear. Think Matrix meets Blade Runner.
Another highlight is the Amy Winehouse statue. The late singer was closely associated with Camden Town and she lived at No. 30 Camden Square for many years until her sudden passing in 2011 at the tender age of 27. Her 2006 album Back To Black catapulted her to worldwide fame, spawning the huge hit Rehab and making her the first British woman to win five Grammy Awards in 2008.
The bronze, life-size statue was unveiled on 14 September 2014, on what would have been Amy Winehouse’s 31st birthday. It features her signature beehive hairstyle, with her left hand on her hip and right hand hiking the edge of her skirt. If you’re a music fan like me, you’ll definitely want to take a picture with this musical icon who left earth way too soon.
At about 12:30pm, it was time for lunch. The Asian in me craved for rice, so I bought a plate of economic rice (£7) and a can of Coke (£1.50)…not very economic as you can see. Food really contributed to a large part of my expenditure in London.
From Camden, we took a bus back to our hostel. At about 2:15pm, we headed out again and made our way to South Kensington. Here, we paid a visit to the Natural History Museum (click here). I had been here once before, during my first time to London in 2009, but it was too brief a visit so I wanted to come back and have a look at the exhibits again. The best thing about museums in London is that admission is free, even for foreign visitors.
The Natural History Museum opened in 1881 and it is a treasure trove with a collection of more than 80 million specimens from various segments of natural history – botany, entomology (the study of insects), mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. The museum is most famous for its impressive collection of dinosaur fossils, but there is plenty more to see.
The museum building itself is a work of art. The style is that of Gothic Revival combined with Romanesque architecture. The decorations for the entire building are made of terracotta as the material was deemed to be more resistant to the harsh climate and grime of Victorian London. The façade consists of beautiful arched windows, a dramatic multi-arched entranceway and intricate relief sculptures of flora and fauna. I spent a good ten minutes just taking photos of the exterior.
Walking through the main entrance at Cromwell Road, we were greeted by the huge 25.2m-long skeleton of the blue whale hanging from the ceiling in the Hintze Hall. During my previous visit, it was a large Diplodocus dinosaur skeleton that was being displayed in the central hall. The skeleton, nicknamed Dippy, occupied the position from the 1970s until 2016, when it was being replaced by the blue whale.
If not for the presence of the blue whale skeleton, the scene in front of me could very well have been that of Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter books. The high ceiling and the grand staircase at the end of Hintze Hall are a perfect representation of J.K. Rowling’s literary universe come to life. I think it will be even more so during night time, if the walls are lit up by candles instead of modern LED lights.
As we made our way to see the dinosaurs, we passed by Jerwood Gallery, where the Museum of the Moon exhibit was being hosted. In the middle of the gallery was a huge, 6-metre orb floating in mid-air. The sculpture captures the lunar surface of the moon in spectacular detail, complete with pockmarked craters and shadows. It was like seeing the real moon up close. Amazing.
The exhibit is being held because this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on 20 July 1969, the very first time man set foot on the moon. And with the landing came the famous words uttered and immortalised by Neil Armstrong: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.
The dinosaur gallery was very crowded and unsurprisingly, packed with many children accompanied by their parents. On display are skeletons of some of the most ferocious animals that ever walked on this earth, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor. However, my favourite dinosaur here is the gentler, herbivorous Stegosaurus.
You can easily recognise the Stegosaurus by its ridge of upright plates running across its back, and its spiked tail that acts as a defence mechanism. This skeleton is the world’s most complete Stegosaurus skeleton ever found, standing at 3m tall and 6m long, dating back to 150 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period.
After our visit to the Natural History Museum, we headed towards Hyde Park. Along the way, we passed by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Harrods department store, but did not enter. At about 4:15pm, we arrived at Hyde Park.
Our purpose for visiting Hyde Park was to catch the British Summer Time (BST) concert series featuring Celine Dion and other special guests performing tonight. The next two days will see Stevie Wonder headlining tomorrow followed by Barbra Streisand on Sunday. It’s quite a bummer that I won’t be able to catch Stevie Wonder tomorrow but too bad, Wimbledon awaits. Anyway, watching a concert at Hyde Park has always been on my bucket list so I was happy to finally make it happen with Celine’s gig tonight. We bought our tickets for £90 (S$156.60) and happily made our way to the entrance gate.
There really is no better time to visit London than during the summer, as the beautiful weather just puts everyone in a good mood. Inside the concert venue, there were plenty of food and drink stalls, so we bought some spaghetti and beer to fill ourselves up before the concert started.
At 5pm, there were already lots of people and many had brought along picnic mats to stake their ground. When we arrived, Claire Richards was performing. Earlier, The Wandering Hearts took the stage. I was glad to see that Josh Groban would also be performing a 50-minute set tonight, which was wonderful. I had sort of caught his Singapore concert earlier in February but it would be nice to finally watch him as an audience member.
At 6:20pm, Josh Groban appeared on stage, looking very spiffy in his red suit. He launched into Bigger Than Us, a song from his latest album Bridges. It was followed by one of my favourites, You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up), a soaring and empowering ballad that fully showcases his powerful baritone voice.
In all, Josh performed 11 songs, including his most popular tune, You Raise Me Up, before bringing the curtain down with Bridge Over Troubled Water, a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s 1970 classic. The crowd was appreciative of Josh but it was clear that most of them were here to watch Celine.
As we approached showtime, the grounds began to fill up quickly. When Celine Dion finally took the stage at 8:20pm, the grounds were fully packed with 60,000 people and everyone was on their feet. Appearing in a bright blue, glittery skin-tight ensemble with oversized sunglasses, she launched into The Power Of Love, originally recorded by Jennifer Rush in 1984 but covered by Celine to much success in 1993. The rousing chorus and powerful vocals were enough to pump up the crowd, and it was then that we realised we were standing in front of a bunch of Celine die-hard fans, who knew every word of every song.
After ditching her shades, she sang That’s The Way It Is, arguably her last big hit from 1999. Throughout her 18-song set, she covered all her greatest hits, including the Because You Loved Me, To Love You More, All By Myself and of course, My Heart Will Go On. One standout moment was when she sang Think Twice, a fan favourite that had everyone singing along and getting the loudest cheers.
Here are some of the highlights from the concert, enjoy!
Her last song for the night was a soulful rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine, ending the concert on a poignant note. After that, she left the stage and never returned. I was really hoping that she would bring Josh out for a duet on The Prayer. It felt like all the stars were aligned for it to happen, but alas, it didn’t.
As we made our way out of the grounds, the crowd was still buzzing with excitement and they launched into an impromptu, a capella version of My Heart Will Go On. It carried on all the way till we reached the exit. YS remarked that he never knew that Celine had so many die-hard fans, and that they were so vocal. I was also a bit surprised by how fanatic they were. It was a wonderful way to end the night and Day 4 of our London trip. Our hearts will go on…and on…