London

London

London is not only a capital, it is also one of the greatest business centres of the world, a very important port, and the heart of Commonwealth.

The word "London" is used:

1) for the City of London;

2) for the County of London;

3) for Greater London.

Greater London includes the suburbs and has a population of about ten million.

The City of London is therefore a city within a city; it is ruled by a Lord Mayor and has an area of about one square mile. The City refer to a small area east of the centre, which includes the site of the original Roman town. It is the centre of trade and commerce.

Very few people live in the City, but very many work in it. Every morning a great number of people come into the City by train, tube, bus or car, and every evening at five o'clock, when business is over, they go back to their homes, leaving the City almost empty.

The City is London's commercial and financial centre: here we find the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and Lloyd's Insurance Company.

The religious centre of the City is St. Paul's Cathedral, the finest church built by Christopher Wren, the great English architect of the 17^th century.

Not far from St. Paul's is Fleet Street, "the street of ink", famous as the home of the nation's newspapers. The British are a nation of newspaper readers.

Another fine building is the Tower of London, an 11^th century Norman fortress where, now, the Crown Jewels are kept. Near the Tower is Tower Bridge, London's first bridge over the Thames coming from the sea.

The West End is the fashionable part of the capital, while the East End includes some of the poorest districts of London. The best shop and hotels, theatres and cinemas are in the West End.

The heart of the West End is Picadilly Circus, near which we find the shopping streets: Regent Street, Oxford Street, (with its huge department stores), and Bond Street (with its smart shops).

To the north of Picadilly Circus is Soho, which has been the foreign quarter of London since the 17^th century. Now it has restaurants offering food from a variety of different countries, especially Chinese and Italian ones.

Not far from Picadilly Circus is Trafalgar Square, perhaps the finest square in London, in the middle of which you can see Nelson's Column (Nelson was the victor of Napoleon at Trafalgar), behind it is the National Gallery, which has one of the best collections of paintings in the world.

Going south one reaches the Houses of Parliament, that is, the House of Lords and the House of Commons and they were built in the 19^th century. Big Ben is the name given to the clock, or rather to the bell, in the Clock Tower of the House of Commons.

One gets a beautiful view of the Houses of Parliament from the near-by Westminster Bridge. Westminster Abbey is a magnificent Gothic church. It is in Westminster that the kings and queens of England are crowned. Some of them are buried there, too.

The London residence of the royal family is Buckingham Palace. Foreigners often stand in front of Buckingham Palace to look at the Life Guards on their horses.