Covent Garden
One of my favourite Christmas traditions (schedule allowing!) is my shopping trip to London. I've already done much of my shopping, I must be getting more organised as I get older, however I still love the trips for the atmosphere, the mulled wine and Covent Garden market.
Today we jumped into the deep end and headed straight to Piccadilly Circus. We spent some time in Waterstone's and HMV which are also two places on the top of 'to visit for Christmas Shopping List'.
Regent Street lights
We braved Oxford Street and its crowds before heading to Covent Garden Market. There are some lovely things on sale there. They can be a little pricey but many of the items are handmade so if you're for supporting artists and crafts people then there are many wonderful things for sale which would make a unique gift.
Fairies
Handmade soaps, including some carrot-shaped ones
Lots and lots of beads-and more fairies!
No trip to Christmas trip to London is complete without mulled wine and roasted chestnuts
I discovered a Moomins shop in Convent Garden, which made me rather excited. Moomins themselves I can take or leave...but Snufkin is my favourite cartoon character so this shop will be a 'Must Visit' next time I'm in central London.
Snufkin plates, unfortunately seen after my Christmas list was written :(
We saw a crocheted moomin and my friend suggested the idea of a crocheted Snufkin. I think it would be quite a challenge...but an idea has been planted anyway. We'll see if it takes root.
We ended the day in an Unitalian-named Italian restaurant called Pasta Brown. It was one of the best Italian meals I've eaten and I'd recommend it to anybody (but go after the pre-theatre crowd as it's very busy and noisy otherwise!).
I felt especially festive when I got home and started my wrapping marathon.
Christmas is here, I hope everybody is having lots of Christmassy fun!
There's nowhere better in London than Covent Garden in my opinion, especially at Christmas. It's probably not a good thing but Covent Garden's one place I always make time for when I visit London, even at the expense of doing something new. Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against chain stores but given a choice between hand-made,individual gifts and mass-produced, chances are I'll head for the home-made. (Although I do have to confess a love affair with Me To You bears, so there's good in both).
ReplyDeleteAnd as you say, there's such a wonderful atmosphere in Covent Garden and I love it. It's a friendly kind of busy, not the type of busy that might just mow you down without so much as a glance over the shoulder to check that you're ok. Last December, my mum and I booked ourselves into London serviced apartments and we had a weekend in Covent Garden. It was wonderful. Much as I love London, it tends to leave me feeling drained but that weekend was one of the rare occasions where I left the city feeling relaxed.
Did not get up there over Christmas so good to see your pics. We lived in London too - 4 years.
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