London: Sep 12: Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, and more

On my last full day in London, I took only a few pictures. This blog entry describes the day much more than the pictures do. Di Yin also took some pictures, though hers don't cover the day any better. That link goes to her first picture from this day. The rest of the album is from this day. If you're in slideshow mode and see pictures of Oxford, you've cycled back to the beginning of the album and are seeing pictures I already linked to.

After a lazy morning, Di Yin and I took the bus to Putney Bridge, then took a long ride on a double-decker bus to Piccadilly Circus. We sat on the second level in the front and enjoyed the great panoramic views.

Once in Piccadilly Circus, we stopped by the Japan Centre supermarket. It has wide selection of Japanese products, including a huge amount of pre-packed sushi.

Piccadilly Circus is a crowded shopping area. After walking around, I guessed I was wrong when I said Oxford Street was London's main shopping street. But, however, we walked the dozen blocks to Oxford Street and, upon arrival, I decided that, nope, I wasn't wrong: Oxford Street is bigger, denser, and more crowded.

Incidentally, we stopped by Piccadilly Market, an outdoor street market, where I almost bought a hat. I ended up buying one in a department store later the same day.

On Oxford Street, we stopped by an ultra-hip ice cream shop in the basement of one of London's famous department stores, Selfridges. (Note: it has since moved.) The ice cream shop was painted black and had lighting like a nightclub. It even had a loud, live rock band and two black-shirted bouncers at the door. Though it may still be in its promotional period (it opened two days prior), I can't imagine how it would make a profit.

After a bit more shopping, we left the beaten path. Because we were in the vicinity of one of the guidebook's walking tours that I hadn't yet done, we did part of it before taking the tube to dinner. The neighborhood we walked around was just east of Edgeware Road. Once off Oxford Street and into this residential neighborhood, the area was fairly nice. We saw a number of cute mews and green squares.

On a tip, we had dinner at a Persian restaurant, Mohsen, in Kensington. (Wow, a Persian place that's not on Edgeware Road.) It was decent. We then took the slow route home, riding a double-decker once again.

In the evening we listened to parts of the BBC Proms' Last Night. I'm amused that my last night in England aligned with the last night of the proms. The BBC Proms is a summer concert series known for, on its last night, playing nationalistic music and getting a bit rowdy. This year's last night was as off-beat as in past years (which I watched earlier on video).