London is the capital of Great Britain

 

London, the capital of Great Britain, is a large and ancient city with population of about 9 million. It was founded by the Romans in 43 A.D. It lies on Thames. It is the seat of the Government, a great industrial and cultural center, one of the Britain’s important ports. It is more than 2 thousand years old. London has 4 centers: The City or “Square Mile” is the oldest part of the capital. It is a financial business center of London. Only about 5,000 people live in the city. Numerous banks, brokers, insurers, offices, and firms are situated there, including the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange (фондовая биржа), and the Old Bailey (центральный уголовный суд в Лондоне). The West End is the shopping and entertaining (развлекательный) center. Westminster is the government center. The East End is London's industrial center. It contains London docks, factories and workshops. 

London is also a large educational and scientific center of the country. London University established in 1836 is the largest University in Great Britain. There are also Royal Academies of art, drama, music, scientific institutions etc. London is famous for its Library, which is one of the greatest libraries in the world.

London is a big cultural center: the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the English National Opera. It is worth visiting the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery that represents paintings by English, French and other famous masters. The British Museum and the National History Museum are the most famous.

There are a great number of historical monuments and places in London.

Trafalgar Square was made to commemorate the victory of Admiral Nelson over Napoleon at Trafalgar. Tower of London is an old castle built in 1087, on the bank of the Thames, which houses the Crown jewels and other treasures. The Tower has served as fortress, palace, state prison and royal treasury. Now it is a museum. During the reign of Henry VII part of it became a menagerie (зверинец), and it was one of the citizens’ entertainments to watch a bear being led to the water’s edge to catch salmon. Piccadilly Circus: the famous Eros Statue on the top of the fountain in center of the circus is really beautiful. Originally the statue was erected as a symbol of charity but now it has become one of the most popular meeting places of young people and punks who make money letting tourists take their pictures. Besides, Piccadilly Circus is a West End shopping center. There are many shops with big advertisements, belonging to different foreign firms there: Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Mex, New Look, Hamleys for children, excellent bookshop Waterstones etc. The Houses of Parliament with famous clock Big Ben constitute the most popular and widely spread image of London, known throughout the world. In this famous palace are also many meeting halls and various parliamentary offices. Westminster Abbey is a very beautiful church built in a fine Gothic style over 900 years ago; it is a place where British kings and queens are crowned and buried. It was used for the coronation of almost every monarch since 1066. The Abbey has not only Kings, Queens and major political and religious figures buried there, but also literary and scientific figures such as Chaucer, Dickens, Newton, Kipling, Darwin and others. Downing Street, No 10 - it is the official residence of the British Prime Minister since 1735.

St. Paul's Cathedral was designed by a well-known English architect Chr.Wren (if you climb 263 steps you will get to whispering gallery; you can also go down underneath the cathedral into the crypt where many great men are buried: Newton, Darwin and others).

 

The Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the queen and the largest “working” royal palace built in the 18^th century by the architect John Nash. It stands at the end of a long boulevard called The Mall and it has 600 rooms on three floors; 400 staff that serves the Queen in the palace and mend things in it; 300 clocks, its own post office and cinema, a swimming pool, a nuclear shelter to hide in the case of nuclear war attack, 16 hectares of gardens including a lake with pink flamingos, a picture gallery, etc. The palace was built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 but bought by George III. Then in 1837 Queen Victoria made it the home of her court.

Windsor Castle is the Queen’s favourite home. There the Queen spends almost every weekend and Christmas. The castle was built in the 11 century. Now Windsor is the largest castle in the world. It stands in the largest park called Windsor Great Park. In the castle was badly damaged by a fire. Windsor Castle is not only a royal home. It is also a popular tourist attraction. You can see there the official staterooms called “apartments, the Royal Collection”, St George Chapel and Queen Mary’s Doll’s House (a beautiful toy mansion made for King George V’s wife; it was built in 1924).

 Queen Elizabeth unveiled the nearly $19.2 million renovation at Kensington Palace, the future home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Kensington Palace is a place where many relatives of the Queen live: her eldest son Prince Charles with his family, her sister Princess Margaret and some other relatives. Kensington Palace was the birthplace of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who ruled for 64 years – from 1837 to 1901. At that time Britain was the richest and most powerful country in Europe.

Hyde Park - it is the largest and the most fashionable park with restaurants and bars that once was a royal hunting forest; it includes a boating lake called the Serpentine, whose area of 41 acres is used to swim in and to quietly row on in summer. Another attraction of Hyde Park is the horse-riding lane known as Rotten Row (аллея для верхней езды в Гайд-Парке). The large green expanse (простор) of Kensington Gardens with its many trees and flowers, its gracious Round Pond and the lovely statue of Peter Pan (герой одноименной пьесы Дж.Барри о мальчике, кот. не становился взрослым) also constitutes a most attractive spectacle. Harrods is the famous department store in Knightsbridge, London's luxury shopping area. It is the king of London’s department stores with its 300 departments and staff of about 4,000. Clothes are particularly strong, with the emphasis firmly on very high fashion, with many talented British, European and American names represented.    

Doable-Decker buses - buses with two levels; in London they are red and have become a symbol of the city. There are more than 17,000 bus stops all over London. You can board at two types of bus stops: compulsory where buses will automatically stop, unless they are full and request (to stop a bus you must put your hand clearly so that the driver can stop the bus safely). To stop the bus, press the bell located by the door or near the stairs, just once. The driver or conductor will tell you the fare for your destination.

 Heathrow Airport

There are 4 airports in London, Heathrow, London City Airport, Biggin Hill, and Northolt. Of these, Heathrow is the city’s principle airport and is also a major international hub. It is currently the busiest international terminal in the world, and a fifth terminal is being built on the site, with a sixth being planned. In 2003 Heathrow was the busiest airport of Europe in terms of total passenger traffic, handling 53.8m passengers.

Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (столичная полиция) in London. It is situated on the Thames close to the Houses of Parliament and the familiar clock Big Ben. One of the most interesting places in Scotland Yard is the Map Room. Here is the General Crime Map, the Deaths by Violence Map, The Accidents Map. An interesting branch of Scotland Yard is the branch of Police Dogs, first used as an experiment in 1938. Now these dogs are an important part of the Force (отделение полиции). One dog can search a warehouse in ten minutes, whereas the same search would take 6 men an hour.

London’s Zoo is the world’s first scientific zoo. Today it houses a collection of more than 650 different species of animals. As well as being the first scientific zoo, London Zoo also opened the first Reptile House (1849), first public Aquarium (1853), first insect house (1881) and the first Children’s Zoo (1938). Many films and television programmes have been filmed at London Zoo including the famous reptile house scene from Harry Porter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The London Eye. You can see up to 25 miles in each direction with views over some of the world's most famous sights, including St. Paul's, the Palace of Westminster and Windsor Castle. The ride lasts about 25 minutes

 Duchess, Kate Middleton and Prince William

 Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh Wax Statues in Madame Tussauds London

Madam Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, New York City and Shanghai. It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud, who established her first permanent exhibition on Baker Street in London in 1835 before moving to its current location on Marylebone Road in 1884. Madame Tussaud, she of the French Revolution who, in 1802, brought her collection of waxworks over from Paris and the fascination with wax dummies (макеты) has continued ever since.The collection is regularly updated, with new pop stars, politicians and those in the limelight getting the full make over.

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