Description: There is an old saying that we use in the north of England – it may be used in the south as well, but as I have never lived there I cannot vouch for it – that goes, "It is like Piccadilly circus here today". We use it as a way of expressing that wherever we are (at home or the office) has been very busy. It springs from the fact that Piccadilly Circus was, and still is, one of the busiest pieces of real estate in the world. Therefore, when my girlfriend and I visited, we were expecting throngs of people.
We actually found ourselves a little disappointed as, on the Tuesday we visited, it was not massively busy. We were able to cross the road relatively easily and I was not barged out of the way at all by either tourists or disgruntled Londoners. In that sense, the Circus let us down dramatically. However, to paint it in a negative light for just this reason would be childish in the extreme and would also overlook the area's undoubted charm.
Sadly, my girlfriend – who is from Bulgaria – was not massively impressed with Piccadilly and was more interested in the sales that were on in one or two of the shops on the streets close by. I, on the other hand, could not really escape it quintessentially English charm. It had always been an image of London that I had carried somewhere deep ion my brain, so it seemed to give me a reassuring feeling of having come to the right place for my trip. This was heightened when the statue of Eros in the centre was temporarily obscured by a bright red London bus – just to hammer the London imagery home.
Piccadilly is probably famous for two major features. There is the statue of Eros in the centre and the neon signs that occupy one section of the buildings that ring it. The statue is an iconic image of London. It has been there since 1819. It stepped down briefly during WWII to avoid destruction (legend has it that the Germans had a prize for the bomber that could destroy it), but has been there ever since. The neon flashes away continually from the side throughout the day and the evening and works to emphasize that you are stood in the centre of one of the world's great metropolises.
Piccadilly is in the very heart of London and can be reached easily at the underground station of the same name. It is also very close to Leicester Square. If you are in need of some iconic London photos for your album, it is the perfect place.
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