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In July 2006,
the
London 100 years of car parade took place, in which we participated with the
Bristol. There were many other beautiful
cars there, of all sorts and ages, and even army transport was available.
One of the soldiers brought some silk stockings in his pocket, and was
waving them at all the ladies. Unfortunately, this did not have the same
effect as it had 60 years ago. |
    
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Above are
pictures of the Tower, the Tower bridge and the Eye of London. The Tower
was built in the 11th century by William of Normandy (William the
Conqueror). It has served as a place for living and parties, but mainly as
a prison, where many famous people have stayed and some of them have lost
their head, the most famous being probably Anna Boleyn. Nowadays it is a
harmless museum.
The Tower Bridge is much younger, as it dates back to 1894. It uses
hydraulic power, in the early days generated by steam and now by
electricity. The beautiful blue, red and white were only painted in 1977
for the Queens silver jubilee, as before that the bridge had an ordinary
brown color. You can even organize parties in there and there is a
continuous exhibition.
The "Eye of London", the gigantic Ferris wheel on the boarder of the
Thames, is of even more recent times and is sometimes called "landmark of
the 21st century". The 135 meters high and already most popular attraction
belongs to British Airways and was opened in 1999 and also called
Millennium Wheel. Every year at New Year's Eve, big fireworks take place
there. |
  
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Another major attraction of
London is obviously the Thames, beautifully spanned with many different
bridges and crowded with boats all day. We hopped on a double deck bus and
crossed the river back and forth, just for fun. It has been and still is a
major transport way; it is referred to in many books and sport events take
place. Many of the big attractions of London are on the boarder of the
Thames, one of the being Big Ben, referring to the enormous bell (weight
is 13.8 tonnes) hanging inside the tower of the Houses of Parliament,
which first rang in 1859. The bell is most probably named after Sir
Benjamin Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works in that time and whose
name in inscribed in the bell. The tower itself is actually called St
Stephen's tower. |
 
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We also visited the zoo,
especially to please Anna, and put her in a cage immediately (click for
large version). The zoo is conveniently small and dates back to 1828, when
it was still a "members only" club, the members not being the animals. It
was meant for use as scientific study, but 20 years later it became a real
zoo and the public was allowed in as well. Walking around there made me
think of my first visit with my sister, who worked their for a few months
and played football with the lynx. I decided not to try that out, however.
Underneath you see some picture of delicious British food. Click on the
pictures or underneath to get more details recipes. |
F
or delicious British recipes, click
HERE |
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