London Dear boys and girls! We welcome you

London Dear boys and girls! We welcome you to London. London is one of the largest cities in the world. About 7 million people live here. It’s more than two thousand years old. London has a number of centres each with distinct characteristics. They are: the City – the financial and business centre; Westminster – the administrative centre of London; the West End – the aristocratic part; the East End – the poorest part of London. There are a lot of wonderful sightseeings in London. You’ll see most of them, watching this presentation. Have a good time!!!!

London There are a lot places of interest in London. Among them are: Westminster Abby, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and it’s bridge and many others.

Sightseeings of London

This is the map of London. London lies on the river Thames. The population of the city is over seven million people. London consists of three main parts: the City, the West End and the East End. The City is the most important commercial and financial centre of the country; there are banks and offices of companies from all over the world. The West End is a district where most of the theatres, bars, restaurants and hotels are situated. In the East End there are most of the factories and docks.

The Thames The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor.

The Thames

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is situated near the Tower of London. It was built in 1894. It regulates a large part of the impressive traffic of the port of London. It was the only movable bridge crossing the Thames. Sir Horace Jones designed the bridge, and Sir John Wolfe Barry built it.

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

The Tower

The Tower Of London Crossing Tower Bridge over the river Thames, you can see the Tower of London. It was a fortress, a royal palace and later a prison. It is a museum now. There are a lot of interesting collections in the Tower of London.

The most famous things in the Tower of London are the Crown Jewels. They have the biggest diamond in the world – the “Star of Africa”.

Beefeater The Tower is guarded by Yeoman Warders popular as “Beefeater”, clad in their traditional Tudor uniform.

The Ravens Tower is famous not only for it’s sights and history, but also for it’s legends. One of them says that without black ravens the Tower will fall. That’s why Ravens live there all the year round. The special man, called, Raven Master, takes care of them and gives them food. The oldest raven died at age 44.

Houses of Parliament

The present Houses of Parliament were built after the old palace burnt down in 1834 by British architect Sir Charles Barry. The building contains the Houses of Commons and the Houses of Lords. On the corner next to Westminster Bridge stands St. Stephen’s Tower, which houses the famous bell, Big Ben. A light at the top of the tower at night shows that the parliament is sitting.

Palace of Westminster

Big Ben Big Ben is the name of the clock and the bell (13.5 tons) inthe clock tower (320ft) , one of the towers of the Houses of Parliament. You can hear Big Ben chime every hour. Built in 1858-59 the clock and the bell got their names after Sir Benjamin Hall. He was a tall man, whose nickname was Big Ben. This is why people know the clock as Big Ben.

Big Ben

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral Saint Paul’s is the cathedral of the City of London. Its dome is a symbol of London. Old Saint Paul’s was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. The fire was so hot, it melted the cathedral bells. After the fire, Sir Christopher Wren designed a new Saint Paul’s. During World War Two, a lot of bombs hit the buildings around Saint Paul’s, but the cathedral survived. Inside the Dome are scenes from the life of St. Paul. Here too is the famous Whispering Gallery. There are many memorials in the Cathedral to the heroes such as Wellington and Nelson.

Westminster Abby

Westminster Abbey

At 11-th century King Edward decided to build a great church in Westminster. But in 1065 the King died and was buried in the abbey. His tomb became a popular place. It was begun again in 1245 for King Henry III. The chapel of Henry VII, designed in the Tudor style, was added in 1503. William the Conqueror was crowned in the Abbey and since then all the Coronations have taken place here. The Abbey contains many royal tombs, memorials to famous people. Now it is the crowning and the burial place of British monarchs. Westminster Abbey is famous for its Poets’ Corner. Many great writers are buried there. They are: Dickens, Hardy, Kipling and others. There are also memorials to Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, Scott.

Coronation Chair Chapel Henry VII

The British Museum

The British Museum

The British Museum is the oldest, and one of the largest museums in the world. Here you can see Egyptian Mummies, the superb exhibition of prints and drawings which changes several times a year. The British Museum, the largest and richest of its kind in the world, was built in the middle of the last century and was initiated in 1753. The collection is enormous and covers ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, China, Japan. George II gave the royal library to the museum in 1757.

Trafalgar Square

Now we are in Trafalgar Square. It was so named in memory of the victory in the battle of Trafalgar. The Victory was won at the cost of Nelson’s life. In the middle you can see Nelson’s monument – a tall column with the figure of Nelsons on its top. The column is guarded by 4 bronze lions. There is a building of the National Gallery of Art and behind it is the National Portrait Gallery. The Square is a location for public meetings. There also are two beautiful fountains in the square.

Trafalgar Square

Nelson’s Column In the center of the square there is a column. It’s called Nelson’s Column, because there is a statue of admiral Nelson on the top of the column. He was famous for the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where he defeated (наносить поражение)the French.

National Gallery

The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. It houses Western European paintings from 1250 to 1900 from the national art collection of Great Britain. The National Gallery has a collection of Italian, Dutch, German and French pictures. It is rich in paintings by Italian masters such as Raphael and Veronese. It is open 7 days a week and admission is free.

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the Queen’s official London residence. When the flag is flying on the top of the palace it means that the Queen is in the resident. It was built in 1702-5 for the Duke of Buckingham. After 1761 this palace was used by the royalty. There are nearly six hundred (600) rooms in the palace and 3 miles of red carpet. Buckingham Palace is like a small town with a police station, two post offices, a hospital, a bar, two sport clubs, a disco, a cinema and a swimming pool. About 700 people work for the Palace. Two men look after the 300 clocks. The Queen’s Gallery is in Buckingham Palace Road as well as the Royal News.

The State Room Gallery The Throne Room There are 600 rooms in it. It has an indoor swimming pool and a cinema.

London’s Changing the Guard Every day at 11 o’clock in the morning there is a famous ceremony near Buckingham Palace. This is the Changing of the Guard. Many tourists want to see this ceremony, as thirty guardsmen march to the Palace and take the place of the retiring guard. It lasts about 30 minutes.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John H. Watson lived at 221b Baker Street between 1881-1904, according to the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The house was last used in 1936. Museum is situated at the northern end of Baker Street, a minute's walk from Baker Street Tube Station. Holmes' 2 rooms are on the first floor. Large new souvenir shop, antique sales are on the ground floor. The second and third floors contain the new exhibition area, several life-size wax figures from the more exciting and best known Sherlock Holmes adventures.

Madame Tussaud’s Museum

It’s one of the sights of London. It’s the famous waxworks museum, which has one of the largest collections of wax models in the world. Here you can meet great characters of history and art (actors, film stars, pop-singers, sportsmen and politicians). There is a special place for the Queen’s family: the Queen, her husband, their children and other members of the Royal family.

“London Eye”

The London Eye (also known as the Millennium Wheel), at a height of 135 metres is the biggest Ferris Wheel in Europe. It has become the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK, visited by over three million people in one year. It was opened by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in March 2000.

Designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Steven Chilton and Nic Bailey, the wheel carries 32 capsules. Each capsule holds about 24 people, who are free to walk around inside the capsule.

Hyde Park Hyde Park is the most famous park in London. It’s a pleasure to watch Londoners walk and jog in the park, eat their sandwiches, talk, sunbathe, read books and enjoy music.

Stonehenge

In some parts of Britain one can see a number of huge stones standing in a circle. These are the monuments left by the earliest inhabitants of the country. The best-known stone circle named Stonehenge dates from between 1900 and 1600 BC. It is made from any upright stones, standing in groups , 8,5 meters high. They are joined on the top by other flat stones, each weighing about tons. No one can tell how these large stones were moved, or from what places they were brought. Stonehenge is still a mystery. Many legends were told about Stonehenge. One stone is called Heel Stone or Friar's Heel. The legend tells that Stonehenge was built by the Devil. One friar tried to stop him. The stone thrown by the Devil hit the friar on the heel, but he was inharmed.

London’s telephones

Double-decker bus

Double Decker Bus First of all, traffic in London differs from that of the Continent. In England we keep to the left side of the road and not to the right. You can see many buses, cars and taxis in the streets. There have been no trams in London since 1952. There are two main kinds of buses in London: the red double-decker and the red single-decker. Some double-deckers have automatic doors and you pay the driver when you go in. In single-deckers you buy your ticket from a machine in the bus. But most London buses have a conductor who will come round and collect fares. Double-deckers have seats for 65 people. Only five people are allowed to stand when the seats are full. So the conductor may stop you getting on the bus if there are already five passengers standing. Первые двухэтажные красные автобусы (double-decker) вышли на лондонские улицы в 1956 году.

London, good buy!