Deep in the heart of London, England you will find Covent Garden an ancient fruit and vegetable market re-invented as a popular shopping and tourist site. You can buy everything from cheap tourist souvenirs to expensive jewellery. The entertainment is equally varied from string quartets to raucous buskers with trick cyclists and pseudo magicians attracting the crowds. I found this blog by Laila at Tapeparade.com quite by accident, but it captures the atmosphere so well that I had to quote her piece.
Covent Garden is one of my favourite spots in London despite being a tourist hell; it?s home to the Royal Opera House, the Moomin shop, Laduree (exquisite macarons), Magma, Pop Boutique and one of my favourite cafes, Cafe Boheme. I tend to shy away from the more touristy areas but there?s a certain structure to Covent Garden that means even when it?s rammed with tourists it never feels as claustrophobic as (for example) Oxford Street or Trafalgar Square.
We went to see the festive decorations and it was a complete cliche of an experience. Chestnut macarons in the church gardens, mulled wine whilst listening to the string quartet, and of course, scurrying up the winding wooden stairs to the Moomin shop to look at their adorable Christmas collection.It?s such a lovely area; if you manage to avoid the flagship Apple store and don?t spend too many hours enthralled with the buskers then I?d definitely recommend Covent Garden to put you in the Christmas spirit. Companions recommended? after all, surely nobody hangs that much mistletoe by accident?
