London

What do we expect to see when we first go to London? A vintage horse-drawn omnibus bobbing leisurely in the yellowish morning fog or the high-speed trains of the city lines? The business city with its rushing clerks or the world’s center of cutting-edge science? Old bridges or modern skyscrapers? Prim Londoners or multivoiced students from all over the world? The British capital has it all. With the end of colonial times, no longer a “metropolis,” London became a global city, i.e. playing a key role in the economy and world order of the planet. In this status, only New York is the closest competitor for the British capital.

London is the world center of finance and investment, its agglomeration has the largest number of international trading companies in the world. In the City of London are the main offices of the largest international corporations, banks and insurance companies. Here also works the oldest and largest stock exchange in Europe – the London Stock Exchange. Antiquity and rich historical experience does not prevent the city to be young. In 40 universities in London there are 400,000 students, a quarter of them from other countries.

In the mid-twentieth century, London’s predominantly English population was heavily diluted with newcomers. Successful and growing London has always attracted wealthy foreigners and refugees from all sides of the world. National communities – Arab, Kurdish, Iraqi, Chinese, Vietnamese, Brazilian, etc. – developed within the metropolis. By the beginning of the third millennium, up to a third of the city’s population was foreigners. Today London is a cosmopolitan metropolis with vibrant areas of national diasporas.

Every year millions of tourists come to London to see with their own eyes this amazing city full of tradition and daring innovation. The two-thousand year history of Britain’s capital has fused together its own and borrowed discoveries, knowledge, scientific and cultural achievements. Carefully guarding the past, the city is at the forefront of societal development and is a recognized center of contemporary art, culture, fashion and design.

The history of London is a story of wars and fires, of victories and crimes, of inventions and conquests, of discoveries and errors. It is full of deeds and treachery, guile and nobility that have given the world the plots of the most famous masterpieces of literature and art.

Walking in London
Walking the streets of London and discovering new things all the time can take weeks and months. Unfortunately, most tourists calculate itineraries for only a few days, trying to fit in the most important things. Here, for example, is what a one-day walk through the historic center of London might look like.

Start in Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross tube station), walk from there down Mall Street to Buckingham Palace, see Her Majesty’s Guardsmen and the Queen Victoria Memorial. See if the Queen is at home by the flag raised or lowered, then walk back through the oldest royal St James’s Park and out into Whitehall.

Follow the famous street to the Palace of Westminster, where the British Parliament sits, and Big Ben. On the way see the headquarters of the Horse Guards, the historic Admiralty building and the residence of the British Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. Continue to Westminster Abbey, the most important Anglican church, coronation site and tomb of British monarchs.

A day trip around London may include one of the public museums with traditionally free admission, such as the National Gallery of London in Trafalgar Square.

If you plan to combine sightseeing and shopping during your walking tour, Piccadilly Street is definitely worth including in your itinerary. Start at Piccadilly Circus by the Eros Fountain, a traditional meeting place for Londoners. It is home to the Royal Academy of Arts and the Criterion Theatre. Step into Piccadilly Circus during the day and you’re in the atmosphere of everyday life in the capital city. Here you can find the oldest bookshop “Hatchards”, the iconic red telephone boxes, the majestic doormen of the luxurious hotel “Ritz”, which set the level of luxury for all hotels of the world. By the way, to visit its tea room at the traditional “fife-o-clock” ceremony is considered a “must have” for wealthy tourists.