Guest Author - Nicola Jane Soen
London is an amazing and vibrant city. Life goes on well in to the late hours in this city of cosmopolitan culture. Different parts of it are so zany and crazy that it seems a hotch potch of multiculturalism. The Chinese quarter that sells all things Chinese has some amazing restaurants. In the Chinese quarter you can buy exotic foods that most British people would not even know their name, let alone how to eat them!
Then there are the markets, Camden, Soho and Portobello Road to name a few famous ones. In these markets all sorts of treasures lay waiting to be claimed and bartered over. The stallholders will let you bargain. The itinerant musician hovers nearby playing his tunes with his hat in front of him waiting for pennies. Hot dog stalls entice you with their mouth watering smell, to buy a dog.
Then there’s the Architecture; Old buildings dating back to the time of William the Conqueror. St. Paul’s Cathedral, its towering spires soaring into the sky; The Tower of London sitting squat and terrifying; dominating the ground it stands on. It is said that if the Ravens living there fly away, the Kingdom will fall, so the seven Ravens they have are clipped! Visit the embassy buildings, the real old Victorian and Edwardian buildings; reminiscing of a finer style living, in a bygone age.
Then see the newer buildings like the MI5 one, looking like something out of a George Orwell novel. James Bond in the film; The World is Not Enough; was seen leaping out of the MI5 Building with a jet ski onto the sparkling Thames. Oh! The Thames, our famous river; with its many bridges some so old they carry many memories and could tell many tales.
London Bridge for example, had the heads of many people stuck on pikes; to warn others that what the King said was law; disobey it at your peril. From the first head of William Wallace to Oliver Cromwell, after he had been dug up at the Restoration of Charles II; for over 300 years heads were put on London Bridge. Dangerous activities like the art of ‘shooting the bridge’ was a very dangerous sport done by the foolhardy, where one aimed ones wherry at the arches and shot through to the other side.
Buckingham Palace with its magnificence and St. James Park, with its majestic trees and fine walking space; a favourite haunt of Charles II; St. James has bands playing in season; the lake with ducks and geese is a beautiful retreat for the family. What ever you want, old, modern or quaint there is something for everyone in old London town, too much to fill one piece with!
www.hrp.org.uk
www.londonpas.com
www.tfl.gov.uk
