Piccadilly Circus

I've been working 8am to 8pm this week, but after Opening Ceremonies, my shift will end up being midnight to noon. This is actually pretty good, because it will mean that I'll have some daylight hours after work to do some touristy things before trying to get to bed at about 5pm (so I can get up at 11pm to get to work on time).

This also means that I won't have many evenings available to do anything at night. So, I decided last night to go down to Piccadilly Circus. I had heard that this was kind of like a Times Square at night, with lots of lights and crowds. In truth, I was a little bit disappointed, the crowds were sparser than I expected (it was only about 9:30pm), but maybe it will pick up when the games begin. Here's the biggest light display in the circle:

There is also a Ripley's Believe It or Not! at Piccadilly:

I tried taking a few night-time street shots with marginal success:

And trying to get a little more "artsy":

Walking west towards Leicester Square, I came across a world I want to live in:

And further on, I discovered a couple of Casinos:

Overall, Piccadilly Circus was interesting, but it wasn't the bustling hub that I expected it to be. However, I do now understand why they call their subway system the "Underground"... with so many train lines that intersect, sometimes several lines at the same station, you often have to travel down what feels like several hundred feet to get to some stations. The Piccadilly Circus station (on the Piccadilly line) is at the bottom of two very long escallators and a set of stairs. London feels like a very "vertical" city, with many levels above and below ground.