带你逛逛伦敦西区莱斯特广场

本期节目选自美国旅游频道(Travel Channel) 的旅游节目Passport to Europe，主持人为Samantha Brown。

Leicester Square, London: Cinema and Entertainment centre of the capital

Where is it?
- Between Piccadilly and Covent Garden, just north of Trafalgar Square.

What is it?
- On a good day, it's a huge meeting place for the world, where multi -million pound movies vie with nickle and dime street theatre for attention.
On a bad day? A loud, brash, sweaty mass of seething humanity looking for quick fix kicks.

By night Leicester (pronounced Lester, as in the Adams Family) Square is one of the busiest spots in London. Buskers entertain the crowds with anything from an impromptu song to a political rant, tourists pay good money to have their faces ridiculed by cruel cartoonists and suburban kids queue to dance the night away at the Hippodrome, Equinox or Maximus.

Especially on Friday and Saturday nights, the whole pedestrianised area can seem like one big, youthful party.

莱斯特广场位于伦敦西区（West End ）--伦敦西区是与纽约百老汇齐名的世界两大戏剧中心之一，是表演艺术的国际舞台，也是英国戏剧界的代名词。这里上演的剧目从音乐剧、话剧、歌剧、芭蕾舞和现代舞到木偶剧、儿童剧应有尽有。伦敦共有剧院约100个，西区就集中了40多个，它当之无愧地成为英国戏剧界的代称。就历史传统而言，西区则比百老汇要悠久得多。

Movie Mania

Leicester Square is still the perfect place to catch an afternoon matinee followed by a cappucino and gossip in one of the many pavement cafes. The Square is a popular meeting place for friends looking for a drink and a chat after a hard days slog and for tourists who seem to enjoy congregating outside the tube station. The cinemas claim to be the biggest and best but consequently tickets are the most expensive in town. It will cost you at least £7.50 to see Independence Day at the Empire, for example. For good value movie magic check out the Prince Charles cinema on Leicester Place, where tickets for a good selection of cult films start at £1.50.

People watching is one of Leicester Square's great attractions as representatives from virtually every country on litttle old planet earth walk past and simply gawp at each other. Ordinary people are interesting enough but if you're really lucky you get the chance to eyeball visiting stars who attend the regular movie premiers.

Despite its movie-made image of constant fog, London does get hot from time to time. Luckily for Leicester Square visitors, there's a handily placed Haagen-Dazs where you can gorge yourself on Triple Brownie Overload until one in the morning.

- David Clee