London
Places of Interest in Great Britain
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, I´m pleased you decided to spent your time with our travel agency. We have prepared a great sightseeing tour for you. First of all, we are going to visit London, the capital of Great Britain. Then, we will travel all over Great Britain and we will see Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Lynton and Lynmouth, and Exeter.
LONDON
I think, we can start in London. I would like to inform you about some important facts. London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom. It lies on the river Thames. Almost seven million inhabitants live there and about twelve million in its conurbation. London includes the City of London and 32 boroughs. London is the seat of the monarchy, the Parliament, the Government and the High Court. You can also find many important museums, galleries, theatres and many historical buildings and parks there.
History
Now, I would like to tell you something about the history of London. London was founded by the Romans in 43AD, on the place where the Romans first crossed the river Thames.
In 1066, the Battle of Hastings took place, where the William the Conqueror defeated Harold III. And he started to built The White Tower – today famous as the Tower of London as his first palace.
In 1665, the Black Death spread through London and 2/3 of all Londoners died.
And now we will start our sightseeing tour.
St. Paul´s Cathedral
I think that St. Paul´s Cathedral is very interesting, because in 1981 the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana took place there, and it is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral was built in the Rennaissance style by Sir Christopher Wren, he was one of the most outstanding British architects. The Cathedral is well known for its Whispering Gallery. If you whisper a word there, you can hear it on the opposite side!
Whitehall
Whitehall is a broad street which leads from Westminster to Trafalgar Square and it is lined by lots of government buildings. Downing Street is also here.
Hyde Park
London is well known for its Hyde Park, which was a Royal Park that Henry VIII acquired in 1536 (it had been owned by the monks of Westminster Abbey before that). It is a large area of open space in the city centre. One of the interesting places here is the Speaker´s Corner, where you can hear Britons´ exercise their right to free speech.
Oxford Street
We also visit Oxford Street, it is one of the most famous streets in London. It contains most of the department stores catering to the middle market. Oxford Street runs from Marble Arch to the junction with Tottenham Court Road. And you can find the main Marks and Spencers departmnent store here.
Other places of interest in Great Britain
Now, we will leave London and we will visit some other interesting places in Great Britain.
Oxford
Oxford is the seat of the oldest English university which now includes 34 colleges, each with its own traditions and character. The University was founded in the 13th Century. The first colleges were University College, and Merton and Balliol Colleges. The city also has several fine museums, including the Ashmolean, Britain´s oldest public museum, the Oxford University Museum and the Museum of the History of Science.
Stonehenge
Stohehenge is situated 8 miles north of Salisbury on Salisbury Plain. It is a megalithic monument dating from about 2,800 B.C. The ruins consist of two stone circles and two horseshoes. The purpose of these is unknown but maybe have been ritualistic. Stonehenge is one of a number of prehistoric structures on Salisbury Plain.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is probably the second most visited town in England. It was founded by King Richard I in 1196, and became famous as the birth place of William Shakespeare. The top attraction is house in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born. The house in where Shakespeare later lived with his family doesn´t exist any more because it was pulled down. Now, there is a beautiful Elizabethan-style garden. In the Holy Trinity Church, you can see the graves of Shakespeare, his wife and other members of his family. Then, there is the old Grammar School, where Shakespeare is believed to have received his education. The centre of Stratford is full of magnificent half-timbered medieval houses which also include Harvard House, the home of John Harvard who founded Harvard University in America.
Lynton and Lynmouth
We are now on our way to Lynton and Lynmouth.
The twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth are on the north coast of Exmoor National Park where the rolling hills meet the Bristol Channel. Lynton is the town at the top of the cliff, sitting above the village of Lynmouth.
The villages are named after the two rivers, the West and East Lyn, which flow from the high ground, the Moor, down through the valleys to the sea. Some people call this area Little Switzerland because of these deeply wooded valleys.
In good weather, you can walk from here to the famous Cliff Railway. It's the steepest railway in the world and powered by water from the river. It's a very useful means of transport between the two villages. But it is closed for maintenance in mid-winter. There is a small Hydro-electric plant at the bottom of the cliffs in Lynmouth (at the mouth of the River Lyn), and, because of this, Lynmouth was one of the first villages in Britain to have electric power.
This beautiful area has been visited by many famous English poets. Coleridge may have found some inspiration for his story about the cursed Ancient Mariner here. Shelley stayed in Lynmouth before his marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of Frankenstein.
Exeter
Welcome to Exeter, one of the oldest cities in England. Exeter was founded by the Romans almost two thousand years ago. Exeter is a Cathedral and University city with a flourishing commercial centre, a busy High Street and a charming blend of cobbled streets and covered malls that offer no less than 600 stores including national names and hundreds of individual speciality shops. The magnificent Cathedral Church of St Peter dominates the city skyline. On the south side of the Cathedral is the Chapter House and Palace of the Lord Bishop of Exeter which houses the treasures and manuscripts of the Cathedral Library. In front of the Cathedral - but beneath the ground, lie the remains of the Roman Basilica and the military Bath House details of which can be inspected in the archaeological galleries of the city's main museum, The Royal Albert Memorial Museum is located in nearby Queen Street.
So, we are at the end of our sightseeing tour. I hope you have spent a pleasant time with us, and I also hope that you will join us on another sightseeing tour.
posted by ladenka @ 2:24 AM
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