Seven Dials - Covent Garden

Seven Dials is a conjunction of (you guessed it) seven streets in the heart of London’s Covent Garden neighborhood, and it’s a must for upmarket shoppers and diners. The seven street radiating out from the central column are full of national and international stores like Fred Perry, El Ganso, Carhartt, Le Coq Sportif, and Super Dry, as well as a more modest selection of local boutiques and vintage stores. If shopping is your thing, make sure to check out the Seven Dials website as they have events throughout the year where they block off the streets to car traffic and have live music and offer up to 20% off purchases in all the Seven Dial stores.

The curious thing about this place, where 7 streets converge, is that in it stands a pillar with 6 faces in which there are 6 sundials, hence the name. Originally there were 6 streets leaving the square but this changed when the urban layout was reconsidered in the late seventeenth and hence the incongruity of the name of the square and number of streets (7) and the number of sundials (6). Covent Garden and this particular area are very commercial, but these streets retain the flavor of London described in many literary classics so it's impossible to walk through the area without looking beyond the tourist shops and hordes, camera in hand - it's something that grabs you.