I then backtracked looking for my way to Leicester Square but found myself wandering into a comic book shop, expertly flicking through a few comics as if I knew what I was doing, before stepping out into another seemingly different street, even though it was the way I had come in; I'd realised I had no idea where I was, just the way I liked it! I'd always heard of a chinatown in London, but never actually knew where it was, but I somehow stumbled across it, and I found it quite enchanting! The roadsigns were in chinese, the smell of oriental food wafted through the air, yellow-skinned people everywhere; as if I'd walked into
Regent Street next, and I slalomed my way through the crowds of tourists; Hamley's toy shop my destination; I hadn't been there for more than ten years, and once I stepped inside, I felt like a child again, spending ages exploring its many floors, admiring the new wacky inventions to pull in kids' dosh, as well as spending a while pic 'n' mixing my jelly beans. Once outside, I thought about walking straight to Oxford Street and eating at Cinnabon until I discovered an almost uninhabited side-alley place, with an arty rainbow structure standing in the middle! That's what I love about London; you have all the standard attractions: the streets, palaces, monuments, aquarium; but then you have all the small hidden things tucked away that tourists regularly fail to pay attention to; the quaint little bookshops, the age-old bakeries, the hidden-away parks and gardens; and on top of that, you have the history of the whole place; a layer underneath another layer, all proudly documented with plaques and memorials. And on another level, there's Southwick Mews :)
My journey continued through more side-streets in the general direction of Oxford Circus, past some amazing street performers, through places I never knew existed! Carnaby Street: there's something about it, just its character, a place rarely found elsewhere in the world, a place that remains untouched by outside influence, like (and I can't find a better example) Hyrule market in The Legend of Zelda! It clings on to what makes it, it.
After thoroughly enjoying Cinnabon on Oxford Street, it was a walk down to Edgware Road, and then Paddington through (yes, you guessed it!) Southwick Mews, from where I took a bus all the way back home... a lovely day! There is still so much of London I have yet to explore, and my daily bus journeys to uni, peering out of the window have made me realise that; all the places seamlessly flow into each other! Just today I walked from Edgware Road through the posh back roads to Kensington Gardens and stumbled upon picturesque scenes, childhood memories and Kensington Palace!
