Saturday, May 09, 2009

Soho Walk on a Sunday

Things haven't changed much over the past week except perhaps the fact that exams are finally over and I sort of managed to catch up on my sleep. The lack of it thankfully did not harm me during the exams. The weekend expectedly was spent lazing about doing nothing at all, till on Saturday night while on a lazing spree in my room, me n a couple of folks decided to leg about in central London the next day. Having nothing better to do, and still feeling out of sorts with the alleys and lanes of London, we felt this was the best way to spend an afternoon.

Sunday afternoon we started our walk from Piccadilly Circus, went past the Devonshire Arms pub to enter the interiors of Soho (I would suggest clicking on this link for a map of the area, else you are sure to get lost). The place comes alive at night, but during daytime it was as quiet as a quaint little village. Walking though its narrow lanes and alleys, we emerged onto Oxford Street. Busy as ever with shoppers and people just walking by, the street as always was a marvel to look at. Proceeding along Oxford Street, away from Oxford Circus, we again took a turn into Great Chapel street to get ourselves back into Soho. Walking down, we were amazed by the stark difference in the one felt in less than 100m. From the end of the street, we could see Oxford Street going about its business and Wardour street on the other side pretty much doing the same. But at that very corner, everything quiet. Silence managed to reign supreme despite being surrounded by chaos. Walking along Wardour street, we turned into Mearde Street before heading out towards Quo Vadis on Dean Street. At this point I must mention that the building that houses Quo Vadis today, was at one point in time the residence of Karl Marx, or rather on of its upper floors (the floor be marked with a circular blue metal plaque). Onwards straight , a turn later we were at Soho Square, which is essectially the green lung of this area. A nice quaint spot, I felt like pausing there for more than a few minutes. In fact, wished had a picnic basket!! But, we carried on, straight along Greek Street, (Casanova at one point of time was a resident of this very street). Walking straight ahead, we turned right onto Old Compton street corner where you would find Maison Bertaux. Supposed to be makers to delicious patisserie, its place people have been known to hang around for hours having nothing but tea. A little ahead was Chinatown and soon enough we were at Leicester square.




Not having had enough, we headed off to Fitzroy park, which was a 7 min bus ride away. The intention was to have lunch at the Indian YMCA, which much to our disbelief was closed for lunch. Disappointed we spent a few minutes at Fitzroy park, which was honestly beautiful, with the sun beating down on our heads and yet it felt good. Over here I found my friends being caught up with a pigeon and frankly, I had no clue what they were trying to converse but from the looks of it I gathered the lil birdie was not too interested.



Grabbing a bite on the way, we headed towards Trafalgar Square, going past Leicester square, only to laze about in the sun there as the crowd thronged about for the Baisakhi mela organised there by the City Council. After much lazing about we went off towards Covent Garden, a 7 minute walk away. Covent Garden as usual did not disappoint on a Sunday evening. This is the place I would suggest everyone to head for if you want a drink and some live music going on around you. We saw some street performers, live musicians and listened to a strings group (violins n cello) to our hearts content before heading back. It was well past 7. 7 well spent hours I would say!!




Monday was a bank holiday, so it went by in preparation for the forthcoming week, which promised to be rigourous, though frankly no preparation could have been enough. Tuesday to Friday, was a mad rush, with a business simulation exrecise at school, which required each student group to crunch numbers, predict market behaviour, generate capital, position products, launch new products, retire sick products - the whole 9 yards that one has to travel to make a business venture successful n sustainable over time. It was draining enough, but the week ended on a high note, with a few drunk mates, thai food, seemingly lost directions (that happens if you be led by an inebriated Thai, support a burly drunk Russian and a couple of other ladies in high spirits). A good laugh, good food and a good sleep - after a tiring n challenging week, that's all you need!! :)


3 comments:

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ARUNA said...

so looks like you had a very nice day finally!!!!!Nicely described Sumit!!! Will go through ur other blogs too!

Anya said...

street music should have been fun... loved the guitar piece.. nice piece of wood..


and the pigeon/... what was happening there?

chriz