Gratitude Grace Growth: Piccadilly & Harrods

Today we went to Piccadilly Circus a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction. The Circus is particularly known for its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side, as well as the Shaftesbury memorial fountain and statue of Eros.

Burlington Arcade is a truly timeless destination in the heart of Mayfair, an iconic runway uniting Piccadilly and Bond Street. The Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London that runs behind Bond Street from Piccadilly through to Burlington Gardens. It is one of the precursors of the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and the modern shopping centre.

Burlington Arcade

Piccadilly Circus

'Swiss Court' This cantonal tree displays the coat of arms of 26 cantons of Switzerland.

M&M's World is a retail store that specializes in M&M's candy and merchandise. The most famous location is in the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada; stores also opened in Orlando, Florida, New York City and London.

M & M's Pink Shades

We also stopped in at the only Lladro store in the UK. In 1953 Juan, José and Vicente Lladrómake their first creations inspired by an experimental vocation in a Moorish furnace built in their own home in Almàssera (Valencia). By 1955 they begin making sculptures in which a clear influence of the trends of the XVIII century can be observed. These pieces evoke the works of former porcelain artists such as Meissen, Sèvres and Capodimonte. A growing number of sculptors, chemists and decorators increase the production of the brothers’ work. They soon decide to incorporate a logo on all their figurines. Beside “Porcelanas Lladró”, they add a Greek master piece, the Victory of Samotracia, thus associating their surname to the ideal of classical art.

Fortnum & Mason

Piccadilly Arcade

Next we had to see the famous Harrod's upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site and has over one million square feet (90,000 m2) of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe.