Speaking about London we must keep in mind that it is unlike any other city in the world. It has rather wide streets but mostly low houses. It looks very grey because there is so much rain & fog there. Only buses & pillar boxes are brightly red. But seen from the air at night, London is a magnificent sight.
London began on two small patches of dry land in the middle of marsh on the north bank of the Thames. In Roman times (55 B.C-409 A.D) it was named Londinium & was alredy a centre of trade. Since the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, London has grown in size, wealth & influnce.Today it covers a greater area than many other big cities in the world, has about 10 million inhabitants, & is the capital of Great Britain.
London is situated on the Thames & it forms a rough kind of circle. It is divided into 4 parts: the City of London, the West End, the East End & Westminster.
THE CITY OF LONDON - It is only one square mile in area & only a few thousand paople live there, but it contains the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange & the head_quarters of the wealthiest companiens & corporations in the world. It is the financial & business centre of the Empire. About half a million people work there during the day. At night it is almost deserted. One of the most attractive places of interest of London is the Tower which is about 900 years old. It was a forterss, a castle, a palace, a safe for Crown Jewels & a prison, now converted into a museum. A number of great figures in British history were executed there, among them two of Henry VIII´s wives. The entrance to the Tower is guarted by a sentry. As English people are very fond of traditions, the Tower guards known as Beefeaters wear the same uniform as the one they wore centuries ago. St.Pauls Cathedral was completed in 1710.The famous English architect Christopher Wren planned & built it, & it took him 35 years. Here is also the Monument, a column about 60 metres hight with an urn of flames on the top commemorating the Great fire of London in 1666.
London Parks - There are a great many parks there, often called the ‘lungs’ of London. Hyde park which is famous for its Speaker´s Corner & the artifical lake Serpentine, then Green Park, St.Jame´s Park, Kensington Gardens & Regent´s Park which is chiefly noted for the fact that it contains the zoological garden & an open airtheatre.