Sights of London

Buckingham Palace

   London is the capital of Great Britain. It's in the south-east of England on the River Thames. In the centre of the city is Buckingham Palace, the London home of the kings and queens of this country. And every day at Buckingham Palace, there's a famous ceremony.

  We're watching the Changing of the Guard. There are always guardsmen - and policemen too - outside the Palace. Every day* a new guard of thirty guardsmen marches to the        Palace and takes the place of the old guard.

     This is one of the most popular sights for tourists in London. First the band marches through the gates of the Palace. The job of the police is to stop the tourists from following the guards! Then the rest of the new guard marches through the gates. The guardsmen wear traditional uniform: a red coat and a black helmet. The helmet is called a 'bearskin' and it's made of fur.

  London has many traditions like the Changing of the Guard and many sights for the tourist to see. Buckingham Palace is just one of them.

The Tower of London

    The ancient Tower of London is on the north bank of the Thames, next to Tower Bridge. It was started by William the Conqueror who invaded Britain in 1066. He built the Tower to impress and frighten the English. It has a long and cruel history.

'It was once a prison for enemies of the king. People say the ghosts of the men and women who died in the Tower still walk here at night. There are many buildings here, but the most important is the White Tower, which is the oldest. Its walls are thirty metres high. There's also a Jewel House which contains the famous Crown Jewels.

     The men who guard the Tower - and the Crown Jewels - are the Warders or Beefeaters. They can tell you everything about its history. Their clothes are the uniform of royal guards of the year 1500. As well as Beefeaters, other soldiers guard the Tower - guardsmen of a regiment of foot soldiers - the same regiment that guards Buckingham Palace. And they have their own ceremony on Tower Green.

   Sometimes you can see another regiment firing its guns. This happens on special occasions, like a royal birthday. Today the Tower no longer frightens Londoners, but the guns sometimes frighten visitors!

St. Paul's Cathedral

  St. Paul's Cathedral was built after the Great Fire of 1666. It stands in the heart of the City - the business centre of London. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren. It took him thirty-five years to finish St. Paul's. The cathedral is a hundred and ten metres high from the floor to the top of the cross and you can climb the 627 steps up to the dome. Wren designed St. Paul's to give a feeling of space and light. He built more than fifty churches after the Fire, but this is his masterpiece.

  Inside the dome is the Whispering Gallery. If you whisper close to the wall on one side of the dome, you can be heard on the other side. St. Paul's has seen many important occasions, like the Royal Wedding of 1981 when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married. And famous people are buried here. Sir Christopher Wren himself is buried in the floor under the dome.

   St. Paul's Cathedral is an island of peace in the noise and activity of one of the biggest financial centres in the world.