Toeristische attracties in Londen

London and his tourist attractions.
I’ve never been to London myself but I’ve heard so much about it that it made me curious.
London is one of the world cities. Everything you want you can find in this remarkable city.
Especially at Christmastime London is very special. You’ll see a city that is decorated from head till tow. It is decorated with lights, bells and all kinds of Christmas decorations. And almost on every corner you’ll see a Santa with a bell in his hand collecting money for charities.
When you are in London and you want to go shopping you have to take care of a large wallet, because one of the disadvantages of London that it is very expensive. But it is also lovely to go window-shopping because you will watch your eyes out. And when you are shopping you must bring a visit to London’s biggest and famous shopping houses Harrods and Marc & Spencer. These are also two very expensive stores!!

London’s most famous tourist attractions.

The Big Ben:
Big Ben is one of the most famous buildings in London. A lot of people think that the clock tower is Big Ben, however, it not the tower but the bell inside the clock that is called the Big Ben. It charms every hour of every day in London. The huge bell was hung in 1858 and named after Sir Benjamin Hall (his nickname was Big Ben), Chief Commissioner of Works at the time the bell was hung. The bell is the second giant bell to be hung; the first one became cracked during a test ringing, according to experts the bell was to heavy. The Big Ben was out of order for 3 years. However, the present bell also has a slight crack. Big Ben is the largest clock in Britain and has kept exact time for the nation since May 1859. In England you can hear Big Ben chiming daily the nation over, either on television news or radio.

The Houses of Parliament:
The Houses of Parliament, is the government building of Great Britain, also known as The Palace of Westminster. It has been split up in the two Houses of Parliament called the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Commons is made up of elected Members of Parliament (MP's) from different political parties (Labor, Liberal Democrats, Conservative, etc). The party with the most Members of parliament forms the Government of England, with its leader becoming Prime Minister of England. Members of parliament from other parties make up the Opposition.
The house is originally built for Edward the Confessor in 1042 and has more than 1000 rooms and 2 miles of hallways. In 1512 a fire broke out and the palace stopped being a royal residence, but the Lords continued to meet there. The Palace of Westminster has been home to the English Parliament ever since.
Another fire raged through the palace in 1834 destroying much of it, except the Jewel Tower and Westminster Hall which dates from 1097 and its hammer beam roof dating from the 14th century. This part of the palace was saved by Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister at the time who saved the great hall by arranging for the fire engines to be brought right into the hall and then he personally supervised the fire fighting. The present magnificent building is Mock Gothic and was designed by Victorian Architect Sir Charles Barry and was finished in 1870. The tower on the right is Big Ben, and the tower on the left is Victoria Tower which contains 1.5 million acts of Parliament passed since 1497.
If you want you can join a debate at stranger’s galleries in both the houses.

The Tower Of London:
When Willem the concurer beat Harold for the thrown in 1066, he wanted to show his power to his people by building a couple of large and strong buildings. One of them is the Tower of London. The tower was build in 1078.
The Tower of London has an intriguing and often bloody history dating back over 900 years. For much of those years it has been a great object of fear, as once taken behind its fortified walls, for many, inside the tower walls would be the last sight they would see on earth again. The tower holds many a secret too, with even unsolved murders of two young princes taking place behind its walls. Monarchs have lived within the Tower, and monarchs have died within the Tower. Framed members of Court have lost their heads there, along with many notorious villains and traitors alike. It is home to the Crown Jewels of England and also a home to a celebrated colony of 7 Ravens, of which it is said, should they ever desert the tower, the kingdom will fall. However, the birds have had their wings clipped to make flight impossible.

Buckingham Palace:
Buckingham Palace is the first home and office of the Royal family in England, and has been the home to British sovereigns since 1837. It is where heads of state visit, and is used for banquets and other state and royal occasions.
Originally it was a town house built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. It was later bought by George III for his wife Queen Charlotte in 1762 and used as one of the royal family's London homes. From then until 1914 it has been modified several times. (Wings added and so on). Buckingham Palace is decorated with priceless works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today. It is also one of the world’s most familiar buildings and over 50,000 people visit the palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, garden parties and receptions. During August and September when The Queen makes her annual visit to Scotland, the Palace's nineteen state rooms are open to visitors who get to see all the lavish furnishings and some of the most priceless works of art in the world. Also open to the public at this time is the gardens which are a heaven for wildlife and offer great views of the garden front of the palace and the 19th century Lake.
Around the palace you will find Green Park, St. James’s Park and Hyde Park with are open for public. Hyde Park is well known for all kinds of concerts that take place.

Westminster Abbey:
Westminster Abbey is London’s most famous church. The original name of the church is ‘The Collegiate Church of St. Peter’. It is the resting place of centuries of British monarchs. It is the place where many royal marriages and funerals have taken place. It is an architectural masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries, and within its walls can be seen some of the most glorious examples of medieval architecture in London. Westminster Abbey contains one of the most impressive collections of tombs and monuments in the world. Inside its very walls you will find the Confessor’s Shrine, the tombs of Kings and Queens, and countless memorials to people great and famous throughout history. Here you can visit the tombs; by us in Holland (in Delft) you can’t visit the tombs.
In 1965, Westminster Abbey celebrated its 900th anniversary

Tower Bridge:
London Tower Bridge was built in 1881 and completed in 1894. It was designed by John Wolfe-Barry en Sir Harace Jones. It is a beautiful piece of Victorian engineering and is one of the many symbols of London. The bridge itself was powered by steam right up until 1976 when the system was electrified. The original system lies in a museum by the bridge. The bridge is 135 feet high and 200 feet wide and in the past was opened 5 times a day to let big ships through. The two towers are joined near the top by a catwalk which gives beautiful views along the river Thames.
The bridge now offers The Tower Bridge Experience, which gives interactive displays showing the Bridge in action and detailing its entire history. You also get a walk along the catwalk and a look at the steam engine which once powered the bridge

London Eye:
London eye is the biggest giant wheel on earth. With his height of 450 feet (135m) and his weight 1600 ton , the London Eye Observation Wheel is the biggest ever be built. It was built to mark the new millennium and became operational in January 2000. Designed by husband and wife team Julia Barfield and David Marks, who won the competition for ideas to mark the Millennium, the London Eye gives amazing panoramic views of much of the city of London. Julia drew a circle around London and then found the centre, The Jubilee Gardens and this was considered the perfect place for it to be built. Visitors who come to London are exited by this new way of seeing London from a birds eye view and it has become a very popular London attraction. Some of the places you can see when you are 30 minutes in the air are: Westminster Abbey; The Houses of Parliament, The Big Ben, The Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The British Museum, The Telecommunications Tower, Buckingham Palace, and many more! The London Eye truly is worth a visit.

London Zoo:
When the London Zoo first opened in 1828, it housed a collection of exotic animals that were studied by scientists of the day. Only later, in 1847, did the Zoo open its doors to the public, and, from then on it became the most famous zoo in the world. Among many world firsts, the Zoo opened the first reptile house (1849), the first public aquarium (1853), insect house (1881) and children’s zoo (1938). Today the London Zoo has 650 different animals including invertebrates, reptiles, fish, birds, and small and large mammals such as lions, tigers, gorillas, elephants, giraffes and bears. One hundred and twelve of these animals are endangered species. The London Zoo is involved in breeding 146 of these endangered species. The 36-acres that the London Zoo covers consist of three large areas of gardens all linked together by tunnels and bridges.

British museum and library:
The British Museum is the world's oldest and greatest museum, founded by Act of Parliament in 1753. It has two and one half miles of galleries displaying artifacts from almost every aspect of international cultural history. Some of the highlights of the British Museum are the Rosetta stone, the Celts and the Lindow Man, the Elgin Marbles in the Parthenon Galleries, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Arts of Korea. The Roxie Walker Galleries of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology presents the British Museum's collection of Egyptian mummies. The Museum now holds national collections of antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; ethnography; and prints and drawings. Its natural history collections were transferred to South Kensington in the 1880s, becoming the Natural History Museum.
The library collections (Printed Books, Manuscripts, Maps, Music and Stamps) became part of the British Library in 1973 and have now gone to a new building at St Pancras. The British library is one of the biggest libraries of the world and England’s national library. It has a collection from all over the world.

Boat tour on the thames:
Along river Thames you will find several tour boat operators, where you can buy tickets for a sightseeing tour on the river. It is recommended you to join these tours, because you travel on the beautiful river Thames and see London and its beautiful buildings and sights from a completely different view. The tour guide (he also steers the boat) gives you loads of information about the buildings and views you pass.
While cruising down River Thames enjoying spectacular views of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, British Airways London Eye, St. Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Royal Festival Hall, Canary Wharf, Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, Thames Barrier and much more.