ta, london!
We marked our last day in London with Amy Winehouse, cereal milk ice cream and a legit (living) celebrity sighting. First we took the tube to Camden Town and walked our feet off. The area is known for its punk, gritty edge — and while we saw lots of neon mohawks and Doc Marten shoe stalls, Camden is also home to a literal maze of food, clothing and craft stalls at the newly renovated Stables Market. That’s where we came across a life-sized statue of Amy Winehouse, who lived in Camden and died there at age 27.
The bustling Stables Market.
The Cereal Killer Cafe has hundreds of breakfast treats from around the world, 20 toppings, 12 kinds of milk. Which would YOU choose?
A fan pays tribute to the “Back to Black” singer.
Oh hi, Freddie Mercury. (This painting is one of a bazillion things you can buy at Stables Market.)
Pro tip: If your child fixates on getting ‘stuff’ pretty much anywhere stuff is sold, it might be best to set a time limit at the market. With inexpensive jewelry, vintage toys, custom-painted sneakers, trinkets and treats at every turn, it can quickly turn a fun window-shopping excursion into a miserable sobfest. So we got fish and chips — ok, and Lucky Charms cereal milk ice cream from the Cereal Killer Cafe — to take away and headed to the Camden canals. We ate by the water, waving to passing boats and ducks. It was a nice afternoon.
You can follow the canals all the way to the London Zoo. We did, but when we got there the relatively high cost and very few remaining hours until it closed were a dealbreaker. So we headed to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. It is, hands-down, one of the best playgrounds we’ve ever been to. The big pirate-ship structure that anchors the expansive play area is just one of many delights that kept my kids giddily engaged for a hours. There are tons of little areas with unique features — musical instruments, full-sized teepees (I found my daughter in one with some new local friends she’d made. Apparently LOL Dolls are a thing here too), sand pits, water features, a cafe where the soft-serve comes with a small Flake candy bar sticking out of the top. Plus: really clean bathrooms! It feels like every inch was designed with littles (and their parents) in mind. I spotted Pink there, barely drawing a glance as she brushed the sand from her daughter’s feet before putting her shoes on. In London, at least, stars really are just like us. My kids would have happily come here every single day for the foreseeable future, but a morning train to Paris had our names on it. We’ll be back at the end of our trip, so it’s only ta for now, London.
Yes, Harry Potter fans: We departed from Platform 9 and she looked for Platform 9 3/4.