You can go up 627 steps from the floor of the cathedral to the top.
Westminster Abbey is near the Houses of Parliament. It si near the Thames, too, and you can see its two towers from the river. It is old (1042-1065) and very big (158 metres).

Cockneys
A large number of the London churches have bells. The small church of St Mary-le-Bow is between St Paul´s Cathedral and the Bank of England. It is the Cockney church. A „Cockney“ is a Londoner, but not every Londoner is a real Cockney. The real Cockneys can hear Bow bells-the bells of St Marry-le-Bow from their houses.
The UK has only one Royal Family, but the Cockneys have their pearly „kings and queens“. The pearly kings and queens take their name from the pearly buttons on their clothes. They work in London´s street markets, and they are the „kings“ and „queens“ of the market people. But they do not dress in their pearly clothes every day.

Markets
London has its famous shops and big stores. But its street markets are the really interesting places. In Portobello Road they sell old things-old, but interesting. It is a collectors market.
Petticoat Lane, in the City, is the Cockney market. Go there on Sunday morning, and perhaps you can see a Pearly King and a Pearly Queen. The Cockneys of Petticoat Lane sell new things. Perhaps you do not really want those things, but the Cockneys in Petticoat Lane can sell them to you!
Covent Garden is famous. But the very old fruit and vegetable market is not there now. The big trucks take the fruit and the vegetables to a new market near the Thames. Without the trucks and the market, Covent Garden is a different place. But it is a busy place. It has new shops and cafes. You can sit at a cafe table and listen to music. You can meet friends and sit in the sun, or sit out of the rain in the old market buildings.

Meet some Londoners
360 Chelsea pensioners are old soldiers. They live in the Royal Hospital near the Thames at Chelsea.
The buskers are street musicians. They play music in the street and people give money to them.
There are speakers every Sunday in Hyde Park, and every day near the Tower of London.
The commissionaire is an old soldier. He works at the door of the Dorchester hotel.
The taxi driver can take you wherever yuo want.
The street performer...it is nice to stop in the street and watch a street performer.

The City
London is a city, but to Londoners „the City“ is a place in London. St Paul´s Cathedral is in the City, and the banks and big companies have their head offices there.