Little Venice: London's Slice of Italy

Since coming back to London in mid-July, I've been doing my best to see as much of London (and the surrounding areas) as possible before I return to the US permanently at the end of August. There is so much to see, but with my time limited, I decided to focus on things I'd never seen/visited before. When coming up with places to visit, I consulted Buzzfeed.com, which has many lists of places to see in and around around, as well as trip adviser. One location that kept popping up was London's "Little Venice." 

A bit of history (taken from Wikipedia):

- Little Venice is comparatively recent name for Parts of Paddington and Maida Vale, in the City of Westminster, which had been referred to as London's "Venice" for a century before the "little" became current. The name was in frequent use by the latter half of the 20th century. 

- The origins and coinage of the name are disputed. One story goes that it originated with the poet Robert Browning, who lived in the area in 1962-87. This was disputed by Lord Kinross in 1966 and by London Canals. Both assert that Lord Byron (1788-1824) humorously coined the name, which not applies more loosely to a longer reach of the canal system.

- Little Venice has two waterways: the Grand Union Canal and the Regent's Canal, which meet in a large picturesque pool, Browning's Pool (usually called by residents "Little Venice Lagoon" or "the Lagoon"), which forms the focus of the area. 

- It is the home of many famous people. Much of the property in the area are terraced mansions and town houses. 

So beautiful! 

As the name implies, this waterway is not super big, but it's still rather sizable. I spent about and hour walking around the canal, and even then, I didn't walk the whole canal. I was lucky because the weather was really pleasant, which made the canal fairly active. You had people paddle boarding on the water, bicyclists, families, tourists waiting to take a water boat tour, and the cafe next to the "Grand Canal" was pretty active too. A very pleasant outing. 

Paddle boarders in the main basin

One of several water boat tours

The "Grand Canal" 

The canal is lined with so many boats!

This boat cafe seems really popular with the locals. So many people. 

That's a very purple boat

Even the residents on the boat have a garden --- how British! :)

Little Venice is such a hidden gem in London -- or maybe it's not so hidden, I'm not really sure. I've visited London many times and I've lived here for nearly a year, and I wasn't aware of it's existence. I'm so glad that I found Little Venice and I was able to walk around it. Honestly, and forgive my ignorance, but I didn't realize just how many canals London had. I mentioned this to an English friend recently and they told me that it's only recently that canals have become trendy places to hang out. (Although, Little Venice has been around for a while now). 

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend my afternoon. I got to exercise by walking around, I got to explore and see a new place, and I got to take lots of photographs! Win-win.