« TRAVELLING TO LONDON »

Answer the questions: 1. What do you think about travelling? 2. Why usually people prefer to travel? 3. How can people travel?

Now we are in London, in the capital of Great Britain.

And lets begin our tour around London. London is situated on the river Thames.

Here you can see Tower Bridge on the river Thames

The most important industrial cities are: Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, Birmingham and others.

Oxford and Cambridge are famous university cities.

Now you can see the geographical centre of London - Trafalgar Square. It is also a historical place.

In the middle of it, there is the famous Nelson Column in memory of Admiral Nelsons victory at Trafalgar.

We are in Westminster now. It is the most important part of London. Here you can see the Houses of Parliament.

It is the group of buildings, where the House of Lords (палата Лордов) and the House of Commons (палата Общин) sit.

It has two towers: The Clock Tower with Big Ben– the bell that strikes the hours inside the great clock of the Houses of Parliament,

The second Tower - is the Victoria Tower with the national flag over it.

Opposite the Houses of Parliament is Westminster Abbey, its a church.

The present building was started in Most British Kings and Queens were crowned here, and many famous people are buried [berid] here, too.

Another interesting sight in the West End is Hyde Park. It is the largest of London parks and famous for its Speakers Corner which attracts a lot of tourists.

Another famous place in London is the British Museum, its the national museum of Britain, founded in It has one of the worlds best collections of decorative art and houses many of the worlds greatest treasures.

Here there is also the National Gallery - an art gallery with its wonderful collection of western paintings in Britain. It was founded in 1824 and houses one of the most important collections of Italian paintings outside Italy.

Now we go to the City, which is a small area, but is the business and commercial heart of London.

Very few people live in the City. All the main banks and the offices are situated in the City.

In the centre of the City there is the Tower of London, it was founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and was used by him as a fortress and a palace. Later, it was made a prison. At last it was transformed into a tourist attraction, a museum. Now it contains no prisoners, it has the Crown treasures and legends.

Now you can see the main cathedral in London– its the St. Pauls Cathedral. It was designed in 17th century by Christopher Wren.

St. Pauls Cathedral is the main church of London. Its so big! Londoners treasure it, because many famous people are buried [berid] here, Lord Nelson, for example.

Now we are on Piccadilly Circus, its the busiest square in central London, known for the figure of Eros in the middle, for its lively nightlife and for its flocks of pigeons (голуби).

Piccadilly Circus is used as a meeting place for rallies. Thats why if you are in Piccadilly Circus you can meet very strange- looking young people wearing all kinds of fancy clothes and speaking different languages.

And at finish of our tour around London – you can see the most popular and attractive place for the tourists – The Buckingham Palace.

The Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the British Queen– Elizabeth II. It was built and decorated by the best British designers in 1703, but the Queen likes stay at her castles outside London.

Also here you can see the Guards in sentry boxes outside Buckingham Palace. The Guards are changed every morning.