This Sunday did not dawn hot and sunny like last. It was grey, rainy, overcast and cool. In fact, it alternated between bright sun and heavy rain all day in roughly equal proportion. More like we expected to find in London. Our trip this week was not as far-flung as last. We went into the City to Covent Garden. For an added dimension, we took the bus.

The decision to eschew the tube was made to get an above-ground view of the City. Our intention was to see how the various areas joined together. Taking the Tube is somewhat faster but you loose the sense of what is between point A and point B. Descending into the station in West Hampstead and emerging at Charring Cross leaves the impression that all that is between looks like the inside of a train.

The buses has changed here over the last few years, but the one that we took was still a double-decker. We sat on top and got a bird’s eye, or tourist’s eye, view of the places between where we live and Covent Garden. More about the buses in the future.

We are realising how close we are to the centre of the City. Our bus ride took us past the Abby Road studios, Baker Street with all of the Sherlock Holmes exhibits, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and the Strand. All in about forty minutes which is about a third longer than the Tube.

Covent Garden is the sightseer snare, the visitor ambush, the tourist trap. It started out as a market where farmers and merchants brought their wares. Now it is what can be affectionately called the acre of tat. It is a place to get you name in Japanese in a frame, wallets made of something called Laether for three pounds and vintage pottery made last week.

There are buskers to entertain the crowds. We watched an acrobat doing uncomfortable looking manoeuvres between two chairs. There was also a juggler who elicited some sarcastic applause from a group of kids during his warm-up.

We walked out of Covent Garden and past some of the theatres. There is a production of Dirty Dancing on now. Based on the movie starring Patrick Swayze. Who is in town starring in Guys and Dolls. I wonder if the high point in the musical Dirty Dancing is the song “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!”. This would be important if I was interested in lavish musicals.

Tucked in near Leicester square are about three streets that comprise London’s Chinatown. I was surprised that in a city as diverse as London that Chinatown is so small. Although it may just be put out in place for the tourists.

In between rain showers, we walked to Leicester square which, after seeing some of the beautiful squares laid out in London, is quite unremarkable. It is surrounded by cinemas whose claim to fame is that they are the earliest to open the first run movies. The only features are plaques in the ground that tell the distances to the capitals of the Commonwealth and a less-than-life size statue of Charlie Chaplin.

The number 139 bus was good enough to bring us back home after all of the walking around. Despite having to duck into stores a few times to avoid some heavy rain, another good day out.