If you are planning a trip to London but have a tight budget, don’t worry! There are lots of things to see and do which won’t cost a penny and if you know what you are doing a budget holiday in London is possible! Before you go it is wise to make a plan of what you want to do and when so you know how much you can expect to pay. Accommodation Most of the money you spend during your trip to London will be on accommodation, especially if…
Read MoreTravelling on a tour bus is a great way to visit all the sights and tourist attractions in London within a relatively short space of time. There are dozens of tour companies in the capital that cater to numerous different London experiences and most of them allow you to hop on and hop off the double decker bus you tour on when you want to take a closer look at a specific attraction. If you want to see London in a different light you might want to check out a…
Read MoreOriginally called Whitechapel Road, Brick Lane is located in London’s East End and is home to a large Bangladeshi community. In recent years the area has been called Banglatown although the area was originally home to large Jewish and Irish communities who immigrated to the area during the 1600s. There are still a few reminders of the Jewish settlement in the area with a few bagel delis and the odd synagogue in the back streets. Nowadays however, Mosques have taken the place of the larger synagogues and the area is…
Read MoreWhen you hear the term Londoner, I wouldn’t be surprised if you immediately thought of cockneys, but not all Londoners can be classed under this term. The tradition or “rule” is that a true cockney was born within the sound of Bow Bells… although since the church housing Bow Bells was hit by a German bomb in 1941 and nowadays has no residential property surrounding it, the rule has changed to include pretty much anyone born in the East End of London. Cockney Attitudes Many people say that being a…
Read MoreIn 1997 the Labor government was elected in after the majority of the privatization process had been completed. It did not completely reverse the railway privatization of the previous administration. Initially it left the new structure largely in place, however its main innovation in the early years was the development of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), which was initially in shadow form until the Transport Act 2000 received Royal Assent. In the wake of the Hatfield rail crash in 2000, Railtrack had a financial crisis and the industry found itself…
Read MoreThis museum is near the Science Museum and Natural History Museum in London. Often abbreviated the V&A, the museum contains a great collection of design and art and holds over 3000 years worth of artifacts from many of the world’s richest cultures. This includes the most comprehensive collection of British art and design from the 1500s to the 1900s. There’s sculpture, photography, ceramics, furniture, and much more. The world’s largest museum of decorative design and hearts is the V&A Museum in London and contains a permanent collection of over 4.5…
Read MoreEarly in the 19th century railway construction in the United Kingdom began. Six separate rail terminals were built outside London by 1854 including: Waterloo, Bishopsgate, King’s Cross, Paddington, Euston, and London Bridge. By now, however, only Fenchurch Street Station was actually located in the City of London. Traffic congestion within the city had increased significantly during this period, partly due to the need for rail travelers to complete their trips into the city center by road. The idea of building an underground railway to link the mainline terminals with the…
Read MoreIt is only a short walk from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and The Houses of Parliament. While the building is absolutely stunning from Parliament Square, it is well worth walking over Westminster Bridge to enjoy the view from the South Bank. In the early modern period back through the Middle Ages there were the four separate kingdoms of Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and England. These later developed separate parliaments. The 1800 Act of Union included Ireland under the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the 1707 Acts of Union…
Read MoreThe Natural History Museum is one of the three large museums in London. The other two are the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum. The museum is the home of the earth and life science specimens which make up some 70 million items within five main collections which include Zoology, Paleontology, Mineralogy, Entomology, and Botany. The museum is a known the world over as a center of research, specializing in conservation, identification and taxonomy. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as…
Read MoreDon’t think that the British Museum is only full of artifacts from old England. There were days when the incredible English warriors brought back the treasures of distant shores and placed them and the British Museum. Some of those treasures include the earliest known image of Christ, the Easter Island statue, and the Rosetta stone. There are also a lot of Ancient Egyptian and Greek treasures including the Elgin Marbles. Today the British Museum was founded as a universal museum although it was originally founded as a museum of cultural…
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