Museums in London

In London there are three famous museums which attract many people:

The Natural History Museum

The museum was established in 1881.
This museum is located on Cromwell Road, just in front of the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle.
The museum shows many different topics ( life and earth science ). The museum is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons. The museum has topics for all ages.

The Science Museum

The museum was established in 1857.
This museum is also near to the Lycee, on Exhibition Road.
Many tourists come to this museum. The Science Museum has many popular collections including: Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine… This attraction has many interactive machines and games for children as for adults.

Le Victoria and Albert Museum

( known as the V & A )
Named after Price Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852.
This museum is London largest museum of decorative arts and design.
It contains millions well-known objects ( costumes, silver… ) coming from
everywhere in the world.

Marine

Le carnaval de Londres

Pendant les années 50, les gens originaires des Caraïbes qui vivaient a nothing hill (quartier de Londres)ont du subir une série d'attaques raciales, des mauvais logements et des manques d'emplois.Du a ces condition de vie ils commencèrent à avoir une sous-estimation de soi À cause des tensions dans le quartier, les habitants se mirent à organiser des bals dans des salles du nord de Londres, là où les gens noirs pouvaient se retrouver librement. À la même époque, des gens originaires de Trinidad se mirent à jouer de la musique dans des steel band chaque samedi au Colherene Pub à Earls Court.

Christopher

WESTFIELD

Westfield is a new shopping centre that opened recently in west london . It is the biggest mall in Europe ,
very sophisticated ,this mall has even its very own tube station. when you will enter i'm sure there are going to be able all the shops you can possibly imagine.
I hope your correspondent takes you there, however, what ever you do make sure you don't get lost.
Good luck

Alexander

Graffiti In LDN

London is also known for it’s wide range of graffiti, all across the capital. From Old Street (East London) to Morden (South) or to Ladbroke Grove (West). There are many artists, like any graffiti artist trying to make a name for them selves. The two most infamous artists that have swept the nation are Banksy and Toxic.

Banksy (born 1974 in Bristol) is a well-known pseudo-anonymous, English Graffiti Artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, Gloucestershire, near Bristol and to have been born in 1974, but there is uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details. According to Tristan Manco, Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier engineer, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s. His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His art has appeared in cities around the world. Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti or put on exhibitions of screenprints in commercial galleries. Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.

Toxic

Tox is the capital’s most infamous tagger. During his nocturnal adventures, he’s sprayed hundreds of walls, signal boxes and trains over much of London’s rail network. Despite arrest in 2004, the spraying spree continued throughout last few years.

^{If you would like more information on this subject, please visit Graffiti - Derelict London .}

^George

BANKSY

Banksy is a well-known unidentified English graffiti artist who spreads topics such as politics, culture, and moral messages by drawing his pieces around on street walls in England.

He is believed to be a native of Gloucestershire, northeast of the city of Bristol and to have been born in 1974, the son of a photocopier engineer, but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details. He trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980’s.

He uses, for his street art, a combination of graffiti writing with a distinctive stenciling technique. Banksy started as an unguided graffiti artist in 1992-1994 as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ). He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger “Bristol underground scene”.

By 2000 he had turned to the art of stenciling after realizing how much less time it took to complete a "piece." He claims he changed to stenciling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stenciled serial number and employing this technique soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London. His art has appeared in cities around the world.

Filippo

Oxford Street (2)

Are you ready for some serious shopping ? Oxford Street is calling !!

Go through hundreds of different clothing shops, and find your special article. (h&m, topshop, accessories, gap, primark, bershka, claire’s, and a lot more !!)

If you don’t find what your looking for here i’m not sure where you’ll find it.

www.oxfordstreet.co.uk

Tess

The London transport

The London Transport (www.tfl.gov.uk) consists of:

- the London Underground (the tube) consisting of:

- the Bakerloo Line

- the Northern Line

- the District Line

- the Piccadilly Line

- the Circle Line

- the Jubilee Line

- the Victoria Line

- the Hammersmith and City Line

- the Central Line

- the Waterloo and City Line

- the Metropolitan Line

- the London Rail responsible for:

- the National Rail

- the London Overground

- the Docklands Light Railway

- the London Tram

- the Surface Transport consisting of:

- the London Buses

- the London River Services

- London Dial-a-Ride

OXFORD STREET (1)

As British people we love to shop. There’s a paradise situated in Westminster city its called Oxford Street. There are more than 350 shops, such as: topshop, new look, urban outfitters, river island, Zara, Bershka … Oxford street is a London road that measures two and a half kilometres. 338 people would pass by a giving point every MINUTE on a normal Saturday afternoon. There are also well decorated restaurants, cafes and bars. Its been so succesfull that the concil made the road even longer they’ve called it, New Oxford Street. http://www.oxfordstreet.co.uk

Jasmine

The Eccentric English

Definition: In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behaviour on the part of an individual.

Isabella Blow saw no good reason not to go around with a lobster on her head. But she had to admit it was hard to find a designer for this very special hat, before she discovered Philip Treacy the hatmaker.

A few facts about Henry Paget, a very extravagant and astoundingly rich aristocrat:

• He wore dozens of rings on his long, dainty fingers and used powder to blanche his face.
• He was so rich and self-indulgent that he had his motor cars modified to spout exhaust gases perfumed with patchouli and 'l'eau d'Espagne.'
• His wardrobe included: Thirty of the finest silk pyjamas, 100 dressing gowns, suits of every colour and kind (most unworn), smoking jackets, florid waistcoats, 260 pairs of white kids gloves, 280 sets of socks and 100 overcoats.

But you don’t have to be old to be eccentric: just look at the Camden market punks

You don’t even have to go to Camden to see eccentrics, I once saw a jogger dragging several tyres behind him!

These are a few other hilarious London eccentrics: the inventor who made giant ships out of ice, a man who rides down the river in an Edwardian bath chair, and the guy with the world’s biggest collection of pillar boxes!

Marie-Lou

London

London. A world-wide city.

London. A financial capital.

London. A multi-media home.

London. A historical treasure.

Everyone knows London. If you don't you need to revise your geography.

But it's mostly known for it's present, for what it is today. Sometimes, we seem to forget that these very same streets, some even kept their original name, were walked, trampled and danced on more than 200 years ago by the people called londonners under the eye of the one, the only, the great Queen Victoria.

Obviously, since then, things have changed: some places were destroyed, others built. The city doesn't work the same way. People can leave their homes without the constant fear of diseases, rats as big as cats and crazy habitants today, whereas in the 19^th century, if you were sensible and held dearly to your life, you wouldn't open your door after the sun had set…

There are, however, some habits, some traditions, that remain.

Roxana

MARMITE

Marmite, you either love it or hate it.

Most foreigners hate Marmite because of its very unique and distinct taste, but most British people like it because children are given it from a young age due too the amount of vitamin B in it. Marmite is supposed to be very good for you.


Marmite was so good for you because of its vitamin B, that it was included in soldiers ration packs during

First World War. It also became a basic food in hospitals and schools.

During World War II, Marmite became a dietary supplement in prisoner-of-war camps.


They started using black glass jars in 1920. The shape of the jar and the distinct red and yellow label has remained pretty much the same since then.

Anne

English schools.

In England, all the children have to wear a uniform for going to school. They an have different colours. As you can see, the schools are somehow built rectangular. Unlike us the English students have really small and light bag and normally finish very early!!!

Seynabou & Sarah

OUR BREAKFAST

That's look yummy! This dish is called English breakfast and as you can see, it's composed with eggs, sausage or bacon, baked beans and finally toasts with butter.
You can have it with hot chocolate or a cup of coffee, tea, or orange juice.

Hope you can it this dish with your family!

Seynabou & Sarah

BIG BEN

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London. The nickname is often also used to refer to the clock and the clock tower.
This is the world's largest, four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest, free-standing clock tower in the world. The clock is famous for its reliability. The idiom of putting a penny on, with the meaning of slowing down, sprang from the method of fine-tuning the clock's pendulum. On top of the pendulum is a small stack of old penny coins; these are to adjust the time of the clock.

The nickname Big Ben is the subject of some debate. The nickname was applied first to the Great Bell; it may have been named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw the installation of the Great Bell, or after boxing's English Heavyweight Champion Benjamin Caunt. Now Big Ben is used to refer to the clock, the tower and the bell collectively, although the nickname is not universally accepted as referring to the clock and tower.

It celebrates its 150th birthday in 2009, during which celebratory events are planned!
The nearest London Underground station is Westminster.

Victoria

HARRODS

Harrods was established in 1834 in London's East End, when founder Charles Henry Harrod set up a wholesale grocery in Stepney, with a special interest in tea. In 1849, Harrod took over a small shop in the district of Knightsbridge, on the site of the current store. Beginning in a single room employing two assistants and a messenger boy, Harrod?s son Charles Digby Harrod built the business into a thriving retail operation selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruit, and vegetables. Harrods rapidly expanded, acquired the adjoining buildings, and employed one hundred people by 1880.
Harrods was the holder of royal warrants which is a mark of quality, excellence and recognition. They used to be from:
*Queen Elizabeth II for Provisions and Household Good
*The Duke of Edinburgh as Outfitters
*The Prince of Wales as Outfitters and Saddlers
*The Queen Mother, for China and Glass.

Victoria

THE PARLIAMENT

The parliament is a big building inthe center of london in an area called Westminster.

The architecture of this building is gothic and it is used to welcome members of parliament to talk about London's situation and sometimes decide new laws.

Oliver

TWICKENHAM

Twickenham also known as england home stadium of rugby is a massive stadium in the south west of london. It can welcome 82 thousand fans and most importantly the atmosphere is amazing and spectacular.

Oliver

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

The Queen of United Kingdom Elisabeth II lives in Buckingham Palace with her husband the Duke of Edimbourg all the year, except in August and September, because she goes in her Scottich castle, and when she goes in other country. In August and September we can visit the palace. Or else the mews and the great gallery are open all the year.

Diane

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two levels. Double-decker buses are in common use in the United Kingdom, they can have between 60 and 80 passengers seated. They have become a symbolic image of the country in particular in London. They are between 9.5 and 10.9 meters in length (a blue whale does 3 double-decker bus). They are useful as a means of carrying large numbers of passengers without exceeding legal limits on vehicle length.

These buses participate in accidents of very high classes caused generally by a driver having the habit of driving a bus that has only one floor, so he passes under a low bridge, and

Up stairs, you have a beautiful view of London, and downstairs you have the same view then any ordinary bus.

The bus won’t stop without being warn: so once you pressed on a ‘stop bus’ button, the driver will know when he has to open the doors.

To travel in buses it’s necessary to have either an oyster card, or a ticket bought more expensively.

In the bus stop there can be an electronic panel that indicates when the next bus will arrive (how many minutes).

Diane