London
London is the capital of United Kingdom. It is the economic, culture, political, educational centre of the country. It is situated on the River Thames. This river divides the very centre into two parts – West End and East End. In the West End there live the Royal family, the aristocrats and very rich people. There are also many historic sights here. In the East End there live especially ethnic minorities, emigrants from former colonies and workers. There are many factories and firms in this area.
The West End
Houses of parliament
Westminster Palace houses chambers of British Parliament. British Parliament consists of three parts:
- SOVREIGN (MONARCH) – Queen Elizabeth II
- HOUSES OF LORDS – the head of this house is Lord Chancellor. In the past 1999 the Labour Party carried out a huge reform of the house. There used to be over 1200 members in this house and they were peers & peeresses, bishops & archbishops (representatives of the Church of England), lawyers. Lord Chancellor must be always a lawyer, because this house is supreme judicial body. After the reform the member of peers and peeresses has been radically reduced to 92 members.
- HOUSE OF COMMONS – here are the members of political parties. The leading political party is the Labour Party. They won the elections in 1997 after 18 years. The head of the Labour Party is Tony Blair. He became British Prime Minister. The party in the opposite is Conservative Party. The head of this party is William Hague. The Liberal Democratic Party (LibDem) is the third party – Charles Kennedy. The head of this House is Speaker.
Westminster Palace is built in pseudo-Gothic style, because it was built in 19th century. The symbol of British Parliament is clock tower Big Ben. It has its name after the bell that is on the top. Chiming of this clock is very famous.
Westminster Abbey
It was founded in the 11th century on the site of an old wood church. Westminster Abbey is the place of coronations of English monarchs. The last one to be crowned there was Queen Elizabeth II, it was in 1953, but she became the Queen in 1952.
It is built in Gothic style. There are buried some of English kings and queens, for example Elizabeth I, her half-sister Mary I (Bloody Mary), Richard II and his wife Queen Ann of Bohemia. Another very famous in this abbey is Poets’ Corner. Here are the statues, memory tablets of many writers, poets and even statesmen. Here is buried shrine of Geoffrey Chaucer (+1400). He is the author of “Canterbury Tales”. He is also appreciated for his English, which was considered for standard literary English. It’s also place of royal weddings.
Whitehall is the street with Government offices. Off Whitehall is Downing Street. It’s a blind alley. In the house No 10 there always lives British Prime Minister.
Trafalgar Square
Almost in the middle there is a high column with statue of Admiral Nelson. Nelson was heading the English army against Napoleon. There is National Gallery with precious collection of pictures from all over the world.
Piccadilly Circus
In the middle of PC there is a little statue of Eros, God of Love. PC is the centre of entertainment. There are many cinemas (in this place or around), theatres, House of Rock. PC is the gate to SOHO. It used to be red-light district. It still is, but much smaller, only a few streets. In this quarter there is a very famous street – Carnaby Street. It is the centre of young fashion. Here is also a famous Leicester Square. Not far from Leicester Square there is Covent Garden. It is famous for the market.
Oxford Street
It is the main shopping centre. The best-known department store in Oxford Street is Selfridges.
City
The City starts in Fleet Street and it reaches as far as Tower Bridge. The City is the oldest part of London. There are the oldest sights. At the same time it is the centre of business and finance. There are many banks from all of the world. There is the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is connected with the British press. There used to be offices of newspapers, but this street is very narrow. Many offices moved away to the East End.
St. Paul’s Cathedral
It is the most important church. It was built in 17th century after it was damaged completely in the Great Fire in 1666. Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt it in Renaissance style. His son finished his work. Here are buried in the crypt 2 admirals – Horatio Nelson and the duke of Wellington. Also Christopher Wren is buried in this church.
Not far from St. Paul’s we can see Old Bailey, which is the High Court.
Barbican Centre
In the City there is also the centre of entertainment called Barbican centre. It is a huge complex of theatres, cinemas, concerts halls and very expensive flats.
Tower of London
It was built by William the Conqueror (the Duke of Normandy) after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. At first it was the royal residence. Later it became prison and, nowadays, it is a museum. We can see there crown jewels, royal robes and weapons. The typical warders of the Tower are Beefeaters. The typical symbol is a raven. There were imprisoned two wives of Henry VIII (his wives – 1. Catharine of Aragon (divorced) – daughter Mary; 2. Anne Boleyn (she was imprison for adultery and she was executed) – daughter Elizabeth; 3. Jane Seymour (she died at childbirth) – son Edward; 4. Anne de Cleves; 5. Catharine Howart (executed); 6. Catharine Pour (outlived)).
Another famous person who was imprisoned here was the seafarer Sir Walter Raleigh.
British Museum
It is one of the biggest museums of the world. There is a museum of clock. There are drawings and engravings by Václav Hollar. He lived in the 17th century, he was a Czech and his works are very precious, because they capture London before Great Fire.
Buckingham Palace
It is a London residence of the Queen. Very famous attraction outside the BP is Changing the Guard.
Parks in London
Hyde Park is very famous for Speaker’ Corner, which is the symbol of freedom of speech. Anybody can come there and speak about whichever topic, but he mustn’t offend the Queen. They also have to stand while speaking on some box, because they mustn’t touch on the English soil.
Next to Hyde Park we can see Kensington Garden with Kensington Palace where there live some members of the Royal Family. Not far from here there is Czech embassy.
Regent’s Park – with the London ZOO.
Greenwich Park is famous for the observatory through which there goes zero meridian.
London has four airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted. London’s underground is called tube.