After writing about no elephant island, I started wondering
whether there are many places with misleading names to tourists everywhere and
I realised London has its own fair share of them. When I first moved to London,
I found the naming of tube stations very interesting and entertaining. “Elephant
and Castle” for example sounds like an amazing place– if you ever
had to get off there though (not many people would do so voluntarily) you will
realise it doesn’t do its glamorous name any justice. Seven Sisters has no more
sisters than any other station and although Mile End sounds like the end of the
world, you will realise half of the central line is still to come after Mile
End.
Two places that do live up to their names, although not in
the sense most non-native English speakers might think are Oxford and Piccadilly
Circus. While most of us Europeans think of artists, clowns and maybe
elephants, a circus can also be “a rounded open space in a town or city where
several streets converge” and this is what you will find at the London
circus. Lots of streets, lots of people and lots of shopping. As I am not the
biggest shopping fan myself (Indiadam might disagree with that), I will not be
writing a shopping guide for central London but thought I would share a few
places around Oxford and Piccadilly Circus I have learned to like despite the
tourist crowds over the years.
One quick word about shopping though – Lillywhites is a big
sports warehouse right on Piccadilly Circus and in a year when the Pound/Euro
exchange rate is a bit more favourable you can get some good deal there –
everything is always on offer and then have an amazing collection of football
shirts which I always enjoy browsing through.
Regent street is the main street connecting Oxford and
Piccadilly circus and is as busy as a shopping street can get – however it is
very famous for its Christmas decoration and has a lot of decent shopping.
During the summer, quite a few Sundays become traffic free for “Summer Street”
which makes it a lot nicer to walk around and they also do sponsored days
through the NFL or Magnum which are quite fun.
I however prefer walking the side streets like Carnaby and
Kingly Street where the shops are maybe a tiny little bit less main stream and
no cars! A nice place for a break is Kingly court which is hidden away between
Regents and Kingly Street – take a look at the shops on the various levels and
if you feel like it, pop into Camellia’s tea house on the top floor for an
English cup of tea and a piece of cake of if you feel more greedy a proper
afternoon tea (though I still struggle to understand the English love for
cucumber sandwiches).
If you prefer venturing West rather than East towards New
Bond Street there is a nice little lane called Avery Row which feels like a
long way away from Regent Street with its art galleries and I particularly
enjoyed stopping at Evergreen café – nice and relaxing with yummy bites to eat.
Walking down Piccadilly towards Green Park, it is also worth
dropping by Fortnum and Mason – don’t think you can go wrong with a nice pack
of tea for Christmas or a birthday and they really have an amazing offer in
very pretty and colourful tins which are also nice London souvenirs. Walk 10m
further and you come to the cute little Piccadilly arcades where I now have to
mention the Maille mustard shop. Through Indiadam’s great Foodie connections,
we once had a mustard tasting evening session there and even people who didn’t like
mustard enjoyed the different flavours. If you want to splash out, you can buy
some Truffle mustard for £30 or one of the very pretty gift sets they have
(also a good Christmas present – I miss the Christmas feeling here in Mumbai so
I think about it even more now).
When I was in London, I always loved the variety of museums,
shows and plays London has to offer amongst lots of other cultural highlights.
The Royal Academy of arts is just opposite Fortmun and Mason and always worth
checking what is one there when you are in the area.
If you feel hungry or thirsty after a day at the circus, I
would recommend leaving the immediate circus area and heading towards Covent
Garden – a lot more choice and even though it’s very busy as well it probably
is a bit less touristy if you know where to go. But more on that when we come
to Mumbai and London gardens. But again, don’t be fooled – no garden at Covent
Garden.
So as different as Mumbai and London might be, as a tourist
you might be deceived by the names of places. As a general rule, sadly places
with elephants don’t have elephants.
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