LONDON

London is a big city. In big cities, there are modern

buildings, modern shops and stores, hotels and cinemas.
But what is different in London? What things can you see
only in London? In London -the different city- you find
Beefeaters (the soldiers at the Tower of London) and
Bobbies (friendly policemen), Covent Garden and Madame
Tussaud's Museum, the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben
next to them.
 Buckingham Palace
The British king or queen has that palace in
London. Queen Elizabeth lives there now. Tourists
can see the Changing of the Guard. Every day a
new guard of thirty guardsmen marches to the
palace and takes the place of the old guard.
 Buckingham Palace
The British king or queen has that palace in
London. Queen Elizabeth lives there now. Tourists
can see the Changing of the Guard. Every day a
new guard of thirty guardsmen marches to the
palace and takes the place of the old guard.
 Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
They are beside the River Thames. Tourists in
London always want to visit Westminster and see
Big Ben. They want to see the clock and they want
to hear the bells. Big Ben is really a bell.
 The Tower of London
The Tower is old, and it has a long and cruel history. It used to
be a prison. There are several buildings, the White Tower, the
Bloody Tower. People say there are ghosts in the tower. It is a
very frightening place. You can see Beefeaters there and the
Crown Jewels and many ravens.
 Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is one of the most famous bridges
across the Thames. It is near the Tower of
London.
 London's churches
You can see a number of famous churches from the
river. St Paul's Cathedral has 627 steps from the floor
of the cathedral to the top. Westminster Abbey is
near the Houses of Parliament. It is old (1042-1065)
and very big (158 metres long). This is a very
interesting website about ST Paul’s Cathedral:
http://www.stpauls.co.uk/La-catedral-de-San-Pablo
 Markets
In London there are several street markets. In Portobello Road
you can buy old things. It is a collector's market. Camden
Town market is quite a big market. You can buy many things
there, from leather jackets to awful hats. This are a very
interesting websites: http://www.camden-
market.org/http://www.camdenlock.net/stables/index.html
 Museums
Madame Tussaud's Museum is a famous waxworks museum in
London, opened in 1835 by Marie Tussaud. The museum
contains wax figures of famous and notorious characters. There
is a Chamber of Horrors.
The British Museum contains one of the world's richest
collection of antiquities. The National Gallery is an art gallery.
There are very famous pictures in it. Another website is
http://www.madametussauds.com/London/BuyTickets/TicketO
ptions/Default.aspx
 London's parks and gardens
Londoners like the parks. Office workers often sit in them and eat their
lunch. Hyde Park is a very big one with its Speaker's Corner. The nearest
Tube Station is Marble Arch (Central Line).
For over 150 years, Speaker's Corner has been one of London's most unique
and eccentric attractions. On any given Sunday morning, anyone who has an
opinion to air and anyone who will listen will gather at the point where
Oxford Street and Hyde Park meet, in the shadows of Marble Arch and carry
on an oral tradition that is becoming somewhat lost to a modern culture of
email and online chat rooms.
Regent's Park has the London Zoo. Green Park and St. James's Park are very
near Buckingham Palace. Kew Garden is the most famous and the biggest
garden in London. You can find plants from all over the world.
 Interesting places: Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Soho.
Piccadilly Circus is in London's "West End" and there is a very famous statue in the middle. It is
called Eros, the Greek God of love. Piccadilly Circus is a very busy place day and night because
there are many shops and pubs, restaurant and discotheques. You can get food from twenty
different countries in West End restaurants. You can also go to theatres. You can buy cheaper
tickets in Leicester Square near Piccadilly Circus. And there are many cinemas and theatres
near Piccadilly Circus. Soho is also near, and there are many restaurants, pubs, clubs, bars, sex-
shops in that area. Being the center of London’s gay district (centered around Old Compton
Street) and red light district (various adult shops and strip clubs are sprinkled around the
whole area). There’s also a large amount of bars, pubs and clubs, and people are out on the
street at all hours of the night. There all kind of people in Soho and on Soho Square: tourists,
prostitutes, restaurant workers, shoppers, drug dealers, club goers … You can also go there
and enjoy life. People are very open-minded and not narrow-minded. Do you think you are
open-minded?
 QUESTIONS

• 1.- Who is the Queen of Great Britain?

• 2.- Write the names of several London's parks.
• 3.- What is Buckingham Palace?
• 4.- What is Eros?
• 5.- Where is the Speaker's Corner?
• 6.- Where do people say there are ghosts?
• 7.- Write the name of a famous clock in London
near the Houses of Parliament.
• Which is the British currency?
• English typical food