Lemme show you London city....
Britain abounds in enticing cities, towns, villages and hamlets. London can be different things to different peopls but it will never leave you indifferent; whether you are fleeing its concrete immensity or dazzling in its light's. London is also a cradle of multiculturalism. It's a kaleidoscops of different cultures, more fascinating with every twist. Several of the world's finest museums and galleries compete for your attention with the icons of old-money London such as Harrods, Mayfair and the Ritz. oyal London beckons with airs, graces and traditions.
It's difficult to get your bearings in vast and sprawling London, and only more difficult when you're using the geographically nonsensical tube to get around. Places we visited:
Trafalgar Square:
In many ways Trafalgar Sq is the centre of London, where great rallies and marches have taken place, and the New Year is ushered in by tens of thousands of revellers. It's also here that Londoners congregate to celebrate anything from football victories to the ousting of political leaders.
National Gallery
There's an astonishing collection of European paintings at the National Gallery, one of the finest galleris in the world. More than 2000 paintings form a continous time-line, from the Old Masters in the Sainsbury addition and the enaissance-influenced West Wing to the Dutch and Italian-focused North Wing and East Wing. The cream of the gallery's exhibits are:
--The Arnolfini Portrait - van Eyck
--Rokeby Venus - Velazquez
--The Wilton Diptych Bathers - Cezanne
--Venus and Mars - Botticelli
--The Virgin of the Rocks - da Vinci
--The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist - da Vinci
--The Battle of San Romano - Uccello
--The Ambassadors - Holbein the Younger
--Equestrian Portrait of Charles 1 - Van Dyck
--Le Chapeau de Paille - Rubens
--The Hay ain - Constable
--Sunflowers - Van Gogh
--The Water-Lily Pond - Monet
--The Fighting Temeraire - Turner.
Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico
The City of London has always concerned itself with the business of making monet, Westminster has been the centre of political power for over a millennium and most of its interesting places are linked with the monarchy, parliament or the Church of England. The area is a remarkable spectacle, a picture of rare architectural cohesion and an awesome display of power, gravitas and historical import.
Pimlico, to the south and southwest, is unfortunate to be clumped with these. It is, by comparison, mind-numibingly bland and would probably disappear in an x-ray. Its only redeeming features are Tate Britain and the view it affords across the river to Battersea Power Station.
St James's and Mayfair
Mayfair is where high society high fives. Its defining features are silver spoons and old-fashioned razzmatazz. As any Monopoly player knows, it's the most expensive place in London, and if you land here you could go bankrupt. St James's is a mixture of exclusive gentlemen's clubs, historic shops and elegant buildings.
Buckingham Palace
The official residence of Queen Elizabeth 11, Buckingham Palace is at the southwestern end of the Mall. It was built for the Duke of Buckingham, it has been the royal family's London home since 1837. Nineteen lavishly furnished staterooms, used by the royals to meet and greet, are open to visitors during part of the summer when HRH takes her holidays to Scotland. Here too, we culd not visit the interiors :-(.
Changing of the Guards
London's quintessential tourist attraction takes place when the old guard (Foot Guards of the Household Regiment) comes off duty to be replaced by the new guard in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. You can gape at the soldiers' bright red-uniforms and bearskin hats as they shout and march in one of the world's most famous displays in pageantry.
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is home to the popular landmark the Eros Statue and was named after the stiff collars that were the sartorial staple of a 17th-century tailor who lived nearby. It is a ridiculously busy hub characterised by gaudy neon advertising hoarding, choking fumes and reliable Tower Records.
Oxford Street
Oxford St is the zenith of High St shopping, a must or a miss depending on your retail persuasion and eye for style. West towards Marble Arch, there are many famous department stores, including the incomparable Selfridges.
Regent Street
Distinguished by elegant shop fronts, Regent St is where you"ll find Hamley's, London's premier toy and game store (I've picked up quite a lot of stuff for my lil' boy :-)), and the upmarket department store Liberty.
SOHO
One of the liveliest corners of London, this is the place to come for fun and games after dark. It belnds with some of London's trendiest clubs, bars and restaurants.
Covent Gardens
This elegant pizza, London's first planned square, is a tourist mecca where chain restaurants, souvenir shops, balconied bars ans street entertainers vie for the punters' pound. It positively heaves with activitity.
British Museum
London's most visited attraction is the largest in the countrt and one of the oldest and finest in the world, boasting vast Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Oriental and Roman galleries among many others. Among the many must-sees are the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics; the controversial Parthenon Marbles, which once adorned the walls of the Parthenon in Athens; the stunning Oxus Treasure; and the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo Ship Burial site.
Tower Of London
It is the most essential sights to see in London, and a window into a gruesome, fascinating history. It is also one of the city's three World Heritage sites. The most striking building is the huge White Tower, in the centre of the courtyard, with its solid Romanesque architecture and four turrets, which today houses a collection from the Royal Armouries.
Millennium Bridge
It is known as the 'wobbly bridge' to Londoners. Its low-slung frame looks pretty spectacular, particularly when its lit up at night with fibre-optics - the so-called 'blade of light' effect.
London Eye
Right on the Thames, the British Airways' London Eye is the world's largest sightseeing wheel. It's certainly the most fondly regarded of all London's millennium projects.
It is a thrilling experience to be in one of the 32 enclosed glass gondolas, enjoying views of some 25 miles across the capital. The 135m-tall wheel takes 30 minutes to rotate completely and it's best experienced at dusk.
London Aquarium
One of the largest in Europe, the London Aquarium has three levels of fish organised by geographical origin.
Hyde Park
At 145 hectares, Hyde Park is central London's largest open space. A mere soothing structure of Princess Diana - a meandering stream that splits at the top, flows gently downhill and reassembles in a pool at the bottom - was unveiled in mid-2004.
Madame Tussaud's
This toweringly tedious waxworks collection is still living off the name it made for itself. Here the celebrities have to pose with you for your camera and you get to spend as much time as you'd like with them (because they're wax), that's probably why so many tourists flock to this museum. There's so much to see at this museum it's unbelievable. As you enter the museum you walk up the steps you see wax people on the steps. You proceed to an elevator, which takes you high above the city streets to a dinning hall that's chock full of stars such as Bradd Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, Christopher Reeves, and Governor Pataki. Next you exist to the left, which leads you to a reenactment of the French Revolution during the late 1700's. Here you see dead bodies flung on top of one another, heads on sticks, and loud war sounds. Lights masterfully recreated this period in history. When you leave this room you enter a room that shows the process of making a wax person. From the exact eye color to the clothes and position the wax person is in, everything is done prolifically. The next room is actually a big white hall filled with presidents, poets, and governmental figures such as George Bush, Tony Blair, Aishwarya Rai, The BIG B, and Princess Diana.
Royal Observatory
Charles 2 had the Royal Observatory built to help solve the riddle of longitude. Success was confirmed when Greenwich was designated as the prime meridian of the world, and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) became the universal measurement of standard time. On this spot you can stand with your feet straddling the western and eastern hemispheres.
Here are this pics:
It's difficult to get your bearings in vast and sprawling London, and only more difficult when you're using the geographically nonsensical tube to get around. Places we visited:
Trafalgar Square:
In many ways Trafalgar Sq is the centre of London, where great rallies and marches have taken place, and the New Year is ushered in by tens of thousands of revellers. It's also here that Londoners congregate to celebrate anything from football victories to the ousting of political leaders.
National Gallery
There's an astonishing collection of European paintings at the National Gallery, one of the finest galleris in the world. More than 2000 paintings form a continous time-line, from the Old Masters in the Sainsbury addition and the enaissance-influenced West Wing to the Dutch and Italian-focused North Wing and East Wing. The cream of the gallery's exhibits are:
--The Arnolfini Portrait - van Eyck
--Rokeby Venus - Velazquez
--The Wilton Diptych Bathers - Cezanne
--Venus and Mars - Botticelli
--The Virgin of the Rocks - da Vinci
--The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist - da Vinci
--The Battle of San Romano - Uccello
--The Ambassadors - Holbein the Younger
--Equestrian Portrait of Charles 1 - Van Dyck
--Le Chapeau de Paille - Rubens
--The Hay ain - Constable
--Sunflowers - Van Gogh
--The Water-Lily Pond - Monet
--The Fighting Temeraire - Turner.
Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico
The City of London has always concerned itself with the business of making monet, Westminster has been the centre of political power for over a millennium and most of its interesting places are linked with the monarchy, parliament or the Church of England. The area is a remarkable spectacle, a picture of rare architectural cohesion and an awesome display of power, gravitas and historical import.
Pimlico, to the south and southwest, is unfortunate to be clumped with these. It is, by comparison, mind-numibingly bland and would probably disappear in an x-ray. Its only redeeming features are Tate Britain and the view it affords across the river to Battersea Power Station.
St James's and Mayfair
Mayfair is where high society high fives. Its defining features are silver spoons and old-fashioned razzmatazz. As any Monopoly player knows, it's the most expensive place in London, and if you land here you could go bankrupt. St James's is a mixture of exclusive gentlemen's clubs, historic shops and elegant buildings.
Buckingham Palace
The official residence of Queen Elizabeth 11, Buckingham Palace is at the southwestern end of the Mall. It was built for the Duke of Buckingham, it has been the royal family's London home since 1837. Nineteen lavishly furnished staterooms, used by the royals to meet and greet, are open to visitors during part of the summer when HRH takes her holidays to Scotland. Here too, we culd not visit the interiors :-(.
Changing of the Guards
London's quintessential tourist attraction takes place when the old guard (Foot Guards of the Household Regiment) comes off duty to be replaced by the new guard in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. You can gape at the soldiers' bright red-uniforms and bearskin hats as they shout and march in one of the world's most famous displays in pageantry.
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is home to the popular landmark the Eros Statue and was named after the stiff collars that were the sartorial staple of a 17th-century tailor who lived nearby. It is a ridiculously busy hub characterised by gaudy neon advertising hoarding, choking fumes and reliable Tower Records.
Oxford Street
Oxford St is the zenith of High St shopping, a must or a miss depending on your retail persuasion and eye for style. West towards Marble Arch, there are many famous department stores, including the incomparable Selfridges.
Regent Street
Distinguished by elegant shop fronts, Regent St is where you"ll find Hamley's, London's premier toy and game store (I've picked up quite a lot of stuff for my lil' boy :-)), and the upmarket department store Liberty.
SOHO
One of the liveliest corners of London, this is the place to come for fun and games after dark. It belnds with some of London's trendiest clubs, bars and restaurants.
Covent Gardens
This elegant pizza, London's first planned square, is a tourist mecca where chain restaurants, souvenir shops, balconied bars ans street entertainers vie for the punters' pound. It positively heaves with activitity.
British Museum
London's most visited attraction is the largest in the countrt and one of the oldest and finest in the world, boasting vast Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Oriental and Roman galleries among many others. Among the many must-sees are the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics; the controversial Parthenon Marbles, which once adorned the walls of the Parthenon in Athens; the stunning Oxus Treasure; and the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo Ship Burial site.
Tower Of London
It is the most essential sights to see in London, and a window into a gruesome, fascinating history. It is also one of the city's three World Heritage sites. The most striking building is the huge White Tower, in the centre of the courtyard, with its solid Romanesque architecture and four turrets, which today houses a collection from the Royal Armouries.
Millennium Bridge
It is known as the 'wobbly bridge' to Londoners. Its low-slung frame looks pretty spectacular, particularly when its lit up at night with fibre-optics - the so-called 'blade of light' effect.
London Eye
Right on the Thames, the British Airways' London Eye is the world's largest sightseeing wheel. It's certainly the most fondly regarded of all London's millennium projects.
It is a thrilling experience to be in one of the 32 enclosed glass gondolas, enjoying views of some 25 miles across the capital. The 135m-tall wheel takes 30 minutes to rotate completely and it's best experienced at dusk.
London Aquarium
One of the largest in Europe, the London Aquarium has three levels of fish organised by geographical origin.
Hyde Park
At 145 hectares, Hyde Park is central London's largest open space. A mere soothing structure of Princess Diana - a meandering stream that splits at the top, flows gently downhill and reassembles in a pool at the bottom - was unveiled in mid-2004.
Madame Tussaud's
This toweringly tedious waxworks collection is still living off the name it made for itself. Here the celebrities have to pose with you for your camera and you get to spend as much time as you'd like with them (because they're wax), that's probably why so many tourists flock to this museum. There's so much to see at this museum it's unbelievable. As you enter the museum you walk up the steps you see wax people on the steps. You proceed to an elevator, which takes you high above the city streets to a dinning hall that's chock full of stars such as Bradd Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, Christopher Reeves, and Governor Pataki. Next you exist to the left, which leads you to a reenactment of the French Revolution during the late 1700's. Here you see dead bodies flung on top of one another, heads on sticks, and loud war sounds. Lights masterfully recreated this period in history. When you leave this room you enter a room that shows the process of making a wax person. From the exact eye color to the clothes and position the wax person is in, everything is done prolifically. The next room is actually a big white hall filled with presidents, poets, and governmental figures such as George Bush, Tony Blair, Aishwarya Rai, The BIG B, and Princess Diana.
Royal Observatory
Charles 2 had the Royal Observatory built to help solve the riddle of longitude. Success was confirmed when Greenwich was designated as the prime meridian of the world, and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) became the universal measurement of standard time. On this spot you can stand with your feet straddling the western and eastern hemispheres.
Here are this pics:
liked that Changing of the Guards thing, sounds pretty interesting!
ReplyDeletepray for me to be in london sometime :D
Mark a unit:
ReplyDeleteAtin, is it you? Where have u been, dude? Hope's all well at ur end.
~Cheerz!