Hello, my dear readers!
What do modern schoolchildren know about the sights of London? Do they know that the name “Big Ben” is not the name of a clock or a tower at all? This is the name of the huge bell that is located inside the tower itself! Have they heard the story that one day, because of a flock of birds that decided to sit on the hand of a clock, time slowed down by 5 minutes?
Today we will develop completely new knowledge and talk about the sights of London in English. Let's combine business with pleasure.
I have prepared a text for you where I will briefly tell you about the 10 most interesting places in London. Naturally, all this will be in English with pictures, and, so be it, with translation. Be prepared to watch the most interesting video where you will learn a lot of new things.
1. The Big Ben.
The world-known clock. Everyday about 500 tourists come to London to see the Big Ben. Built in 1858, it was named after an architect whose name was Ben (Benjamin). The interesting fact is that you are not allowed to get inside the Big Ben if you aren’t an Englishman. No tourists allowed.
2. Madam Tussaud's Museum
The most famous museum of waxworks. It presents all famous people from singers and actors to Prime Ministers and Presidents. All the waxworks are of such a good quality, that sometimes you can mistake them for a real person.
3. Piccadilly Circus.
The place is far from what is called “a circus”. It is a well-known meeting point of the city. It has become so popular, that is now considered to be a place to visit for all the tourists.
4. London Eye.
It is one of the biggest observation wheels in the world. Its height is 135 meters. It has 32 cabins which symbolize 32 districts of London. It takes 30 minutes to make a full circle. But it is the view you will never forget. The cost is about £20.
5. London National Gallery.
The gallery has more than 2000 works of world-known artists of XIII-XX centuries. You can spend the whole day there and it will not be enough. What is interesting, is that the gallery is free for everyone.
6. Parks of London.
London is famous for its parks. Combined, all these parks cover more land than the Principality of Monaco. The most well-known is the Hyde Park. It is a traditional place of festivals and celebrations.
7. St. Paul's Cathedral.
It was built on the highest point of London 300 years ago. It is the London Bishop’s residence and is the most popular place of visit. The price of visit is £16.
8. The Houses of Parliament.
The official name is Palace of Westminster. It includes more than 1,100 rooms, more than a hundred stairs and about 5 kilometers of corridors. the House of Commons and the House of Lords (two traditional chambers) are located here. Nowadays anyone can visit the Houses of Parliament and even attend the session. You have to register by phone and go through special registration procedure.
9. The Thames.
The longest and most famous river in the UK which the British often call the “Father Thames”. In 1894 Tower Bridge was opened, and in 2012 a modern cableway was built over it. Popular tourist activities are river excursions and water-bus or boat trips. Every year one can watch here the boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities.
10. Nelson's Column.
One of London’s most recognizable landmarks which is located in Trafalgar Square. It was built between 1840—1843 to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson who died in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar. Later, in 1868, the four sitting bronze lions were added to the base of the monument. The column is made of granite. Its weight is around 2,500 tons and its height is over 50 meters. In 2006 it was restored.
Do you want to know English better than others? And be able to talk not only about London, but also about many other things? Then register on the LinguaLeo website and learn English in a fun way - with videos, songs, stories and tasks! It's free.
1. "Big Ben"
World famous watch. Every day about 500 tourists come to London to see Big Ben. Built in 1858, it was named after the architect, whose name was Ben (Benjamin). Fun fact: you can't get inside Big Ben unless you're English. Tourists are not allowed.
2. Madame Tussauds.
The most famous wax museum. It features all famous people from singers and actors to prime ministers and presidents. All the works are so well done that sometimes you can confuse them with a real person.
3. Piccadilly Circus.
This place is far from the word “circus” (from the English Piccadilly Circus). It is a famous meeting place in the city. The place has become so popular that it is now considered a must-see for tourists.
4. London Ferris Wheel.
One of the largest in the world! Its height is 135 meters. It consists of 32 booths that symbolize the 32 boroughs of London. A full circle takes 30 minutes. But it's a view you'll never forget. Cost is around £20.
5. London National Gallery.
The gallery contains more than 2000 works by world famous masters of the 13th-20th centuries. You could spend the whole day there and it wouldn't be enough. What's interesting is that entry to the gallery is free for everyone.
6. London parks.
London is famous for its parks. If you add up the area of all the parks, they cover more land than the Principality of Monaco. The most famous is Hyde Park. It is a traditional place for festivals and celebrations.
7. St. Paul's Cathedral.
It was built on the highest point in London 300 years ago. It is the seat of the Bishop of London and is a popular place to visit. Entry cost £16.
8. Parliament building.
The official name is the Palace of Westminster. It includes more than 1,100 rooms, more than a hundred staircases and about five kilometers of corridors. There are two traditional chambers here: the Lords and the Commons. Nowadays, anyone can visit the Parliament building and even attend a meeting of the chambers. To do this, you need to make an appointment by phone and go through a special registration procedure.
9. River Thames.
The longest and most famous river in Great Britain, which the British often call “Father Thames”. Tower Bridge was opened in 1894, and in 2012 a modern cable car was built over the river. A popular activity for tourists is excursions and walks on river trams and boats. Every year you can watch boat competitions between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge here.
10. Nelson's Column.
One of the most recognizable landmarks in London, located in Trafalgar Square. It was erected between 1840-1843. in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar. Later, in 1868, four seated bronze lions were added to the base of the monument. The column is made of granite. Its weight is about 2500 tons, and its height is more than 50 meters. In 2006, the column was restored.
Useful expressions:
the world-known clock- world famous watches
t o be named after- to be named after
to allow to do sth- allow someone to do something
to represent famous people - represent famous people
of a good quality - good quality
mistake smb for smb - confuse someone with someone else
to be free -b be free
to be famous for sth - to be known for something
be located- to be located, to be
cableway— cable car
landmark- sight.
Well, now let's add to this an exciting video about London. Listen, watch, marvel, learn and practice English at the same time!
Well, I think that now English classes for 5th grade (and maybe 6th grade!) will only be a joy, and an essay or one related to the sights of London will be a pleasure, because now you know everything!
I will be glad to see you among the readers of my blog and share with you all the most interesting things.
help translate into English. Tower Bridge in London is a drawbridge that is located in the heart of the capital of Great Britain.It enjoys a stunning location overlooking the River Thames, very close to the Tower of London.
Tourists often confuse it with London Bridge, which is located upstream.
Tower Bridge was commissioned in
1894 The bridge is considered one of the main symbols of London and
Great Britain, standing on a par with the famous Big Ben.
now expect opportunity, responsibility, respect-and fun.
Youth is a time for fun. In one American playground in Florida, there are basketball courts and volleyball nets. Inside, there are bright colors, Nerf guns and a games room with pingpong. This is not a school, but the offices of CapitalOne, one ofAmericaslargest credit-card firms. The firm gives each department a monthly fun budget. The same sort of thing can be found across corporateAmericathese days. The kids have taken over. It is technology that drives business today, and dot.com culture is everywhere. The young are now the rising power in the workplace. Take Microsoft, a business with 40,000 mostly young employees: the dress code is anything goes as long as you're clean. People wear shorts and have blue hair – sometimes even in management. The typical workplace scene features mid-afternoon hockey, video games and techno music on headphones. Companies want to attract and keep a younger workforce because of their technical skills and enthusiasm for change. So youth culture is becoming part of office culture. This may be no bad thing. Along with the company fun budget come things that matter more deeply to young people: opportunity, responsibility, respect. In the past, it was the middle-aged who ruled. At work, gray hair, years of loyal service and seniority counted most. Now things are changing. Older workers will not disappear, but they will have to share power with the young. In the old days companies grew slowly; with success came conservative corporate values. Now the world's largest firms can crash at any moment. The pace of change is increasing. And change favors the young: they learn and relearn faster and will risk more to try new things. Many companies no longer have seniority-based hierarchies. People can get to the top faster. They don´t have to spend years showing respect for their superiors. It is more important that they are able to understand e-business and have the courage to ask why? Loyalty to the company is less important than talent. Employees stay only when there are challenges and rewards. Changing jobs frequently is now a sign of ambition and initiative. All this is a good thing. Young people are at their most creative stage in life. Now they have more opportunity to put their ideas and energy into practice.
London is home to many wonderful attractions that are of great importance to the culture and arts of not only Great Britain, but the whole world. Most of them are related to history. These are monuments, squares, majestic buildings. Every language learner should be able to describe the sights of London in English.
Sights of London in English
Big Ben
- one of the landmarks of London, which is considered a symbol of this city. This is not only what many associate with, but also the largest watch in the world.
To describe this landmark of London, you can use the following words:
| Delight the eye | Pleasing to the eye |
| Be named after | Named after |
| The most famous | The most famous |
| Amazing | Amazing |
| Masterpiece | Masterpiece |
| Impressive clock | Impressive watch |
| clock tower | Clock tower |
How to describe the London landmark Big Ben in English:
|
When the Romans came to Britain, they built a city on both sides of the River Thames, and the two banks were connected by a bridge. Today there are more than 30 bridges across the Thames in London. Some have been standing for hundreds of years, others are relatively new, but they are not just a means of crossing from one coast to another, but serve as a real decoration, pride and landmark of London and all of Britain. Here are five of London's most famous bridges, and few tourists miss the opportunity to view them from the air, ride under them on a pleasure boat or walk on them.
5 most famous London bridges
London Bridge
Google shortcode
This may not be the most appropriate name for a bridge in a city where it is not the only one, but it is certainly one of the oldest architectural monuments in Britain that has survived to this day. Today's 269-meter-long bridge opened to traffic in 1973, but it has been rebuilt several times over the centuries since Roman rule. Once the only crossing of the Thames, the bridge is now the only bridge that is heated (some of the slabs are heated), which helps prevent frostbite in winter.
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge opened in 1862 and spans 252 meters across the Thames. The bridge is painted green to match the color of the leather seats in the House of Commons, and anyone who climbs this impressive structure will be able to fully enjoy sensational views of the Houses of Parliament and on the north side of the river and the Ferris wheel. The London Eye on the south.
Tower Bridge
At 244 meters long, Tower Bridge is perhaps the most recognizable and iconic of London's bridges. Its construction took eight years and about 432 construction workers, and the construction of this drawbridge was completed in 1894. The bridge is supported by two huge underwater piles made of 70,000 tons of concrete.
London Millennium Footbridge
The bridge is known for being wobbly when you first walk on it, and its construction was completed (as you probably guessed from the name) in 2000. The pedestrian-only suspension bridge is 325 meters long and can hold 5,000 people at once. Due to the repair of the shaky structure, the bridge was closed for two years, but today it again delights tourists.
Albert Bridge
Connecting the two London boroughs of Chelsea and Battersea, Albert Bridge, named after Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria), is one of the most famous landmarks in west London. Like the Millennium Bridge, the Albert Bridge also had its fair share of problems when it was first built in 1873, after which many works were carried out to upgrade the bridge. 220 meters long and sparkling with many lights, the bridge looks simply incredible at night.
History of creation and appearance
In the 19th century, England began to rapidly increase its technical power and expand international trade and political connections, so by the end of the century there was an urgent need to build a new crossing across the Thames. And in 1884, the design of the bridge by Horace Jones was approved. The design's style successfully harmonizes with the overall architectural appearance of the famous Tower of London.
Construction began in 1886, namely on June 21. The construction was completely completed after 8 years, and its opening took place in 1894, on the last day of June, with the participation of Prince Edward and his wife Alexandra.
The bridge has a total length of 244 meters, in the middle there are two towers, each 65 meters high, between them there is a span of 61 meters, which is an adjustable element. This allows ships to pass to the city piers at any time of the day or night. The powerful hydraulic system was originally water-powered and was driven by large steam engines. Today the system has been completely replaced by oil and is controlled using a computer.
Full extension of the bridge, with each wing raised at an angle of up to 83 degrees, takes less than two minutes. While city transport is forced to wait for a ship to pass, pedestrians could move along specially equipped galleries. However, quite quickly after the opening, pickpockets and girls of easy virtue began to actively trade here, so the city leadership closed the crossings in 1910.
Pedestrians were able to walk along them again only in 1982. At the same time, a paid museum of the history of the structure was equipped here, as well as a spectacular observation deck for tourists. You can get here by elevator (two elevators in each tower) or by steps. The glass galleries offer stunning views of the city.
Video: Construction of Tower Bridge
Initially, Londoners showed the same contempt for the new architectural element as Parisians did for the Eiffel Tower, considering the towers old-fashioned and ridiculous.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, namely in 1912, the British pilot Frank McClean managed to fly his biplane between the bridge towers in the space between the upper and lower tier. A similar incident occurred in 1968, when Alan Pollock, a member of the Royal Air Force, flew a fighter plane over the same location to protest government policy. Following the incident, he was immediately arrested and dismissed from service.
During the Second World War, German air forces made every effort to destroy the most important structures in the British capital. The Tower Bridge was also among the main targets, but fortunately the structure remained intact.
A very famous incident in the history of the bridge occurred in 1952, when a Tower Bridge maintenance worker forgot to warn the driver of a city bus about the spreading of the wings of the structure. The driver realized this when he already drove onto the bridge and saw the rising span. He made an extremely brave decision - to gain the maximum possible speed and jump to the other side. This desperate maneuver was crowned with success, thanks to which all passengers remained alive. The city council even awarded the driver a small cash prize for his courage.
An interesting story also happened in 1997, when the motorcade of then US President Bill Clinton followed the motorcade of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The latter successfully crossed the Tower Bridge, but Clinton's cars were forced to delay due to the start of the disengagement. It was not possible to urgently bridge the bridge in order to avoid diplomatic discrepancies, since river transport at the legislative level has priority over land transport. Therefore, the head of the United States had to wait until the ship completely passed under the bridge.
Few people know that the towers are not just a decoration of the bridge - they are powerful steel supports, lined with stone to protect them from corrosion and the influence of the external environment.
There are 2 elevators inside the towers - one for ascent, one for descent. Each of them is capable of picking up up to 30 people at a time.
Any vessel with a height from 9 to 42 meters can apply to open the bridge. This can be done a day before the expected passage. At the same time, the ship owner does not need to pay for this operation - such events are financed by a charitable organization in the city.
Tower Bridge is often confused with London Bridge, located upstream of the Thames. In London, there is even a very popular legend about how in 1968, American businessman Robert McCulloch bought the old London Bridge, which was destined for demolition, thinking that he was acquiring the Tower Bridge. The bridge was dismantled and transported to the United States, and the stone blocks were installed as cladding into the reinforced concrete supporting structure of the bridge, installed along a canal near Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Tower Bridge RaisingTourist Information
The bridge is located at Tower Bridge Exhibition, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP, UK. You can get here by metro - London Bridge or Tower Hill stations, by city buses No. 15 and 42, as well as by taxi.
You can visit the galleries of Tower Bridge from April to September from 10.00-18.00 (entrance until 17.30), from October to March 9.30-17.30 (entrance until 17.00), on January 1 the museum opens at 12.00, closed on December 24-26.
- In contact with 0
- Google+ 0
- OK 0
- Facebook 0
