Cumulus: A Place on Primrose Hill

We've decided we want to retire to a place on Regent's Park Rd in the Primrose Hill area of London. Beautiful! I never have the energy by the time we get to this cafe to write about everything we've been doing since the last time I wrote. Today was supposed to be a "light" day with an easy stroll through Regent's Park, and we ended up walking about 4-5 miles around the whole park plus a hike up Primrose Hill for the view across the city, which was well worth it, mind you, but I'd worn flip-flops not made for walking thinking we wouldn't be doing that much of it and my feet were killing me by the time we got home! So if that was a light day, you can imagine what the others are like. And we've only had 2 light days since we got here.

Since I'm sans writing energy once again, I'll just put up some more pictures to give you a taste of the past few days:

Interesting juxtaposition (carousel, Muslim woman in burka, soccer ball) of the sort one sees every day in this part of town

Carnaby Street--the heart of the "Swinging '60s" in London and still a pretty Mod place

The French Huguenot church in Soho--my ancestors were most likely Huguenots, so I always find Huguenot things historically attractive

The Arizona Cafe in Marylebone, London

A panoramic view of London from the top of Primrose Hill (this is the first time I've tried out the panoramic feature on my new camera--I took one picture, then it showed me the edge of that so I could line up my second shot, and then the same for the third shot, whereupon the camera "stitches" the pictures together into one long one--I haven't seen it in large view yet, but in small format it looks pretty good)

Camden Lock Market--a thriving punk/goth/occult market area in the north of London (right near where I was enrolled in school during my semester abroad here in 1981--it was a boring place back then with nothing to say for itself, but now it has LOADS to say!)

James having a Che' moment at The Cuban bar & restaurant at Camden Lock Market

Bruce Cockburn at Union Chapel, a Congregational church in north London that hosts a lot of cool music gigs

I laughed so hard I couldn't stand up when our new cheap umbrellas lasted all of 5 minutes in a rainstorm the other day, forcing us to walk the width of Hyde Park in driving wind and rain with no protection--this was the 2nd set of umbrellas we'd gone through here, so this time we spent a few more pounds on ones that will hopefully last a few more minutes before blowing their spokes