Piccadilly Circus was our first stop on our exploration of London’s West End. This 200 year old crossroad is the intersection of Regent Street, Piccadilly, Coventry Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Haymarket and Glasshouse Street – sounds a little like a Monopoly board!

I was amazed to learn that half a million people pass through the intersection daily, both above and below ground. Check out this clever video of a 1928 cutaway image of the Piccadilly Underground Station, which we departed from (photo 4). It is mindboggling to think how much activity is going on just metres beneath the surface.

Piccadilly Circus was originally circular – thus the name circus which is Latin for circle – but later had its shape adjusted when Shaftesbury Avenue was added in 1886. The iconic Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain was erected in the centre in 1893 (first photo).

Overlooking the fountain are large advertising billboards, similar to Times Square in New York (first photo). These were first established in the early 1900s as traditional signs, then became neon signs in the 1920s. Today’s digital versions are smart enough to use facial recognition technology to detect the age, gender and mood of passersby to tailor what it displays.

Sienna was keen to visit the Piccadilly Hard Rock Café just along from the fountain, as it houses a red telephone box from the One Direction song Take Me Home, and also features on the album cover of the same name. We actually just visited the Rock Shop upstairs to see the phone box – the café itself was downstairs.

It was interesting to spend a few hours in and around this famous landmark soaking in the atmosphere of the hustle and bustle.