London - a Centre of Great Britain

London is the capital of Great Britain and the 9th largest city in the world. It is situated on the river Thames. It is really 3 cities - City of London, City of Westminster and City of Southwark. The population of London is about 7 million people.
London has the over-elaborate traffic - for example there is the oldest underground in the world. The most popular forms of transport are the underground, bus and the taxi. The speciality of London traffic is a red double - decker bus for tourists. You can take the sightseeing tour in London by this bus. There are 3 airports in London - the biggest is Heathrow, then Gatwick and Stansted.
London is famous not only as the capital of Great Britain, but as a seat of Royal family and as a city with many places of interest.

The most interesting places of interest are:

Buckingham Palace
– This is one of the most visited places in London. It is the most famous as a residence of the Royal family. The history of this building goes back as far as to 18th Century, when it was built by Duke of Buckingham as a country house. It became Queen´s residence since year 1837.

St. Paul´s Cathedral
– The main reasons why people visit this one of the largest cathedrals in the world are Poet´s Corner and Whispering Gallery. At Poet´s Corner are buried a lot of famous English writers and other famous people, such as G. Chaucer, Ch. Wren and it is said, that W. Shakespeare too, but it´s not proved by scientists.
Whispering Gallery is a place, where you can clearly hear, what is whispered on the opposite side, even if you stand 32,5 meters away from the person who whispered.

The Tower of London
– It is situated near the river Thames and the Tower of Bridge. It was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th Century. Since then it was a fortress, a royal palace, a prison and even the royal zoo. Nowadays it is the museum where Crown jewels are kept.

The Houses of Parliament
– It was built in the Gothic style even though it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 as well as St. Paul´s Cathedral. Now it´s the seat of the British Parliament. The part of it is also the clock tower Big Ben named after one of the ministers – Benjamin Hall.

10 Downing Street
– The official home of every Prime Minister of England. The speciality is that current Prime Minister Tony Blair does not live here, because he has very big family.

Westminster Abbey
– It is an excellent example of Gothic architecture which dates back to 11th Century.
It is the place where the coronation of British Kings and Queens takes place since 1066.

Trafalgar Square
– The place is known especially for pigeons, fountains and the Nelson´s Column, which was built to commemorate the victory of Admiral Nelson in battle with Napoleon. It happened in 1805.

Piccadelli Circus
– It is the most visited place by teenagers, because of the fact that it is the centre of entertaiment and shopping. But you can also find the statue of Eros.

Oxford Street
– Well known shopping centre, where the Royal family goes shopping too.

Soho
– A place where the worlds of fashion, business, the arts but also strip clubs meet.

There are also a lot of galleries and museums in London. Among the most famous museums and galleries belong The British Museum, The Museum of London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery and The Tate Gallery. The most visited one is Madame Tussaud´s Museum, which houses one of the biggest collections of wax figurines of famous people.

When you get tired of visiting historical sightseeings, you can relax in London parks. The most notable are the Royal Parks, which Hyde Park is the part of. Hyde Park is the largest and the most visited of London Parks, where you can find a lot of attractions, such as Speaker´s Corner. There you can tell all your feelings and opinions.
Even though I have not been in London yet, I would like to visit it, because I think that it belongs to the most interesting cities in the world.