RED RIDING HOOD

London attracted over 16 million international visitors in 2014, myself included, making it the world’s most visited city.

Settling my company in this city makes me visiting it quiet often, so every time I try to visit something new and discover more! I usually take the Eurostar train from Brussels under the famous canal La Manche and Viola! – in 2 hours I am in London, baby!

I usually start with shopping in Oxford street and around –  Europe’s favourite shopping area, in the City of Westminster. The road was originally a Roman road,  but later in middle ages known as Tyburn Road  where prisoners from Newgate Prison would be transported towards a public hanging. It became known as Oxford Street in the 18th century changing its character into commercial and retail purposes by the late 19th century, also attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution.

London was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium after which  Anglo-Saxon settlement started to grow until the fall of Roman Empire and Vikings invasion. By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison one of the largest towns in Europe and Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Later, mainly the Gothic abbey church became cathedral as most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. When I entered the abbey, I was absolutely astonished with the architecture, but also the tradition and longtime history of England. Whenever I stepped or looked, there was a grave of some english king or queen or memorial to the poet or discoverer.

Westminster Abbey

The tomb of Elizabeth l

The tomb of Mary Queen of Scots

Memorial to Sir Isaac Newton

Inside the church

In the cloisters of the church, I found the oldest door of Britain! Nearly a thousand years old the oak trees growing in the forest outside London a thousand years ago and the door itself was probably constructed and put in place about 1050 when Edward the Confessor built Westminster Abbey next to his palace at Westminster.

Cloister of Westminster Abbey

Cloister of Westminster Abbey – inside

Britains oldest door

The Palace of Westminster is today the Parliament of the United Kingdom – ‘heart of British politics’. It was built on the site of river Thames in the 11th century as the primary residence of the Kings of England, strategically important during the Middle Ages. In 1855, it was added ”the prince of timekeepers”: the biggest, most accurate  clock in the world – Big Ben.

On the river Thames is located the Tower of London as well,  a historic castle  founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The construction was started by  William the Conqueror and later expanded by  Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence and more as place of artillery and prison. In one of the towers, the ravens are having their nests. It is said if all the ravens ever leave the tower then the British crown and British kingdom will fall.

Very next to the Tower is the Tower Bridge: a masterpiece of 19 century architecture with its  hydraulic system.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge opening for boat pass

Now when I crossed the river, I could take some walk through the Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank where is also a modern but already very popular tourist attraction: the London Eye, a giant observation wheel 135 meter tall structure, built as part of London’s millennium celebrations.

Continuing to the north, on my way was The Globe theater, an Elizabethan playhouse built for the pays of famous write William Shakespeare, in 16 century. 

Close by is my favourite bar with traditional fish and chips dish. So I gave myself a break and ordered like a local. 🙂

The next day was the day reserved for museums. As it was the first Sunday in month, most of the museums were free. So I went to Trafalgar Square –  the square that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars. In the center is Admiral Nelson’s column. The British Museum, National Gallery and National Portraits Gallery are just there. Btw, I almost died at Trafalgar square, crossing the street on a green light when the ambulance came out of nowhere, actually behind the doubledecker that stopped on the pedestrian crossing (so I was not able to see it coming). The bus driver was honking, the people on the opposite side of the street were waving when I started to cross the street… and the ambulance suddenly passed by furiously in front of me. Ooops!

Although I have been twice to British Museum and saw its offers and pride, my favourites goes to National Gallery of Portraits with all the royal and aristocracy portraits of their times. Seems like they are real and all my characters from historical novels that I read about became vivid. My imagination gets crazy and I get goosebumps.

Rosetta stone of British Museum

Portraits in National Portrait Gallery

From Trafalgar square I continued through Pall Mall Avenue, decorated with British flags that leads to the Buckingham Palace where the Queen Elisabeth ll and the royal family live.

Pall Mall Avenue decorated with British flags

Buckingham Palace

 My favourite site in London is this World War ll monument dedicated to the women that carried the burden of war by themselves working what is called ‘a men’s job’ and often not being appreciated for it.

I finished the day at Wembley stadium and dinner there. The daylight was slowly coming to its end and the building started to glow somehow, so I couldn’t resist to seize the moment and take the photo! My mother says it is a true postcard of London.

London is a metropolis that I keep on revisiting. As with the other cities and places, I always try to visit some new place in the city. What are some other popular tourist attractions in London? Let me show you after a good traditional English breakfast which usually consists of bacon, eggs, British sausage, baked beans etc.

Central London has a great walking network with interesting streets that offer plenty of history to see, you just need to know what you are looking at. Like the small details of Queen Elisabeth ll crown signs on the pillars or old facades of the mansions. Or simply just reading the metro (or as they call it here the tube) stops names.

Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms since 1952. This makes her the longest queen monarch on the throne. Her Majesty the Queen is known for her sense of duty and her devotion to a life of service to the people. She lives in Buckingham Palace. If the flag is up on the roof it means she is a home. So I had to go and check.

It’s a pretty big place, consisting of 775 rooms and opened in 1856 to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. The famous balcony has hosted various members of the royal clan on all manner of occasions. The tradition of the Royals appearing on the balcony began with Queen Victoria, who made an appearance there for the opening of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851.

Time for tea? As a bold black tea blend with a hint of spice, the flavour holds up very well when combined with milk and sugar, added according to preference. It is a perfect combination with an English muffin. 🙂

Walking around, I went down to Parliament Square to see Big Ben – again. Some items are just a subject to pilgrimage and you never leave them unvisited. Unfortunately, it was under construction. Even though I have seen it some times by now, the disappointment was still there. The little traveller in me is insatiable.

Nevertheless, the Gherkin was there, in the Financial District of London. Standing strong since 2003 on the sites of the former Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 in the bombing by a device placed by the Provisional IRA in St Mary Axe, a narrow street leading north from Leadenhall Street.

London is so diverse. You can sit for a beer in a typical old English baar and have the view on some punk graphite pop art. Or how ever you wanna call it. Actually, the city is committed to creating a culture in which diversity and equality of opportunity are promoted actively and in which unlawful discrimination is not tolerated.

Talking about the royal family, it is inevitable not to mention Princess Diana. To tribute her, I visited the St Paul’s Cathedral where she married Prince Charles.

It is on Ludgate Hill which is the highest point of the City of London and is dedicated to Paul the Apostle, founded in 604. The present structure, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren’s lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the city after the Great Fire of London. St Paul’s is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom, after Liverpool Cathedral.

Services held at St Paul’s have included the funerals of Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer etc.

Now this.

The Tower is history. 900 years of history. And blood.

I am talking of course, about the Tower of London. It has served as a royal palace, a fortress, an infamous prison, a mint, a military storehouse, a treasury, home to the Crown Jewels, an armory, a public records office, a royal observatory, and a royal zoo. Even as a place of execution.

The building started as a White Tower, since 1078. Norman King William the Conqueror (the bastard child) authorized construction which expanded over the centuries.

In this very same White Tower lays the mystery of the fate of the two brothers who were only sons of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville (15th century). We do not know their names but their age at the time was 9 and 12 years old. It is appearant that their uncle Richard, the Duke of York had imprison them in the towers, hiding them from the public in order to make himself the next logical succes to the throne. He then became Richard III.

In Martin’s Tower you can find the Crown Jewels. The most sacred item is the St. Edward’s Crown. It’s made of pure gold and worn only at coronation.

In 15th-17th centuries during the Tudor dynasty, the Tower was first used as a prison and execution ground by Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Anyone who was a threat to the throne (small or large, real or imagined) was beheaded.

In the reign of Henry VII’s infamous son, Henry VIII, the Tower became notorious as a prison for those who fell out of Henry’s favor. Henry VIII is best known for his six marriages, and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII about such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope. Very practical, isn’t it? Because of him, it remained until today that the UK Monarh is the Head of the Church of England.

The most touching place of the Tower of London to me was the execution place. I am a big fan of the women in the Tudor times, their appearances and disapperances at the court, their braveness and heroic acts in the specifically men dominated world. The best-known of those executed on or near the Green are the three Queens of England: Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, and Lady Jane Grey, the nine day queen.

The Tower of London had its own Zoo. From the 1200s to 1835, the Tower housed a menagerie of exotic wild animals, never before seen in London, including lions and a polar bear given as royal gifts. It was a very first zoo ever.

In 1235, Henry III was delighted to be presented with three lions by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. These inspired the King to start a zoo at the Tower. Over time the collection of animals grew: the lions were joined by a polar bear in 1252 and an African elephant in 1255. The polar bear was a gift from King of Norway. It was held on a longs string of chains and left to jump in Thames to fish. I mean… wtf?

To the very end of this visit – the ravens. The warders take care of the Tower’s seven ravens. The black eyed ravens with the fierce pointy beaks are believed to be magical. Legend holds that if they ever leave the Tower, the Tower and the Kingdom will collapse. No fear, they are fed with kilos and kilos of raw meat everyday and they luke huge. The are at least 15 kilograms each and they barely fly.