Piccadilly Circus (Площадь Пикадилли).

 Piccadilly Circus (Площадь Пикадилли).

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.

Parks of London (Парки Лондона).

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.

Nelson's Column (Колонна Нельсона).

One of London’s most recognisable 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 tonnes and its height is over 50 metres. In 2006 it was restored.

 

LONDON STREETS

      We are now in Oxford Circus, half-way along Oxford Street, one of the busiest streets in the West End of London and that street over there is Regent Street famous all over the world for its splendid shops. Near one of the Street comers you can see an entrance to the subway leading to the Undeground Railway or Tube, as Englishmen call it.

On both sides of the street there are shops, banks and restaurants. In the roadway there’s a constant stream of cars, taxies, buses and lorries. In some parts of London there are trolleybuses and trams as well. The noise is deafening but one soon gets used to it. The pavements are crowd­ed with people, and its dangerous to attempt to cross the road until the traffic is stopped either by a policeman on point duty or by the red traffic lights.

At night the streets are lit by electricity or, in some districts, by gas. The main streets are flooded with light from the brilliant shop windows and the illuminated signs and advertisements so that after dark everything looks as bright as in broad daylight.

If you can stay only a few days in London you won’t have much time for your sightseeing and how to spend your time to the best advantage is rather a problem. If you are interested in shops, art galleries, or in museums you may start with the principal historical buildings and monuments.

In that case you may begin in the West End and see the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall and Nelson’s Column. From there you can go along the Buckingham Palace and have a look at Queen Victoria’s Memorial facing the Palace. Then stroll up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Comer and take a walk through the Park and Kensington

Gardens to the Albert Memorial, which faces the Albert Hall. That’s really more than enough for one day, still if you want to see more you may get top of a bus going towards the City.

The bus goes along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus and Charing cross, then along Fleet Street to Ludgate Circus.

There you may get off and walk to St Paul’s Cathedral.

After that you could go further east to the heart of the City. And then if you had time and weren’t too tired you could go to the East End and see the Tower of London, Tower Bridge over the Thames.

In any case there are a lot of other ways to watch London’s sights: you can walk along the town, you can have a two-hour trip on tourist bus or you can see London from the top of the red double-decker bus.

Vocabulary

splendid — великолепный

subway — метро

deafening — оглушающий

to get used to — привыкать

pavement — тротуар

traffic — дорожное движение advertisement — реклама

broad daylight — разгар дня

advantage — преимущество

further — дальше

stroll up — пройдитесь

Questions

1.What are the streets in London like?

2. Are the main streets flooded with light at night?

3.What can we see in the West End?

4. What are the ways of introducing London?

5.What London streets do you know?

6.What can you see in Trafalgar square?

7.What is the most famous park in London?