LONDON NEIGHBOURHOOD GUIDES

Including a link to guides of different London neighbourhoods. HERE.

PADDINGTON 2

 Trailer:

London locations of the film:

BREAKING NEWS: SECOND TERRORIST ATTACK IN LONDON

Graphic photo by  Daily Mail

Today we've woken up with another sad story, the second terrorist attack in London in three months and third in the UK after the attack on Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester Arena. On the graphic above you can see the places attacked after leaving the van at the end of the London Bridge.

4thESO: TRIP TO LONDON MARCH 2017

As we already commented back in March, 12 of our 4th ESO students set on a 5 day trip to London between the 22nd and the 27th. Today we can show you a portrait of the photos of their stay and see what a great time they had!

Video:

The following places can be spotted in this photo-presentation in order of appearance:
- Kensington: Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Harrod's.- Piccadilly, Regent & Carnaby Street.
- Waddesdon Manor & Waddesdon Secondary School.
- Covent Garden.- St Paul's. The City. Tower Bridge & the Tower of London.- Tate Modern.- Buckingham Palace.- The Houses of Parliament & The Big Ben. London's Eye.- Trafalgar Square.- Leicester Square.- The British Museum. - Camden Town.

LONDON TRAIN STATION DEPENDING ON YOUR ORIGIN OR DESTINATION.

This map shows you by the different colours which London railway station you have to arrive to or leave from depending on your origin or destination, respectively.

EUSTON if you travel to or from the Western England, Scotland and North Wales. (Glasgow,  Blackpool, Liverpool, Manchester)

MARYLEBONE if you travel from or to a small area of Northeast London.

PADDINGTON if you travel from or to South Wales, Somerset. (Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford, Reading)

WATERLOO if you travel from or to the South West: Devon & Cornwall. (Plymouth, Exeter, Southampton)

VICTORIA if you travel from or to the central South coast (Portsmouth, Brighton)

LONDON BRIDGE if you travel from or to the South West coast (Canterbury, Dover)

FENCHURCH STREET if you travel to or from East Anglia.

KINGS CROSS if you travel to the Eastern England & Scotland (Edinburgh, Leeds, Hull)

St PANCRAS if you travel from or to the Midlands & the Eurostar train to/from the continent (Paris & Brussels).

IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE LONDON TERROR ATTACK.

Last Wednesday, as our student's were boarding on their plane to London at Alvedro, we learnt about the breaking news of the terror attack on one of London's most iconic tourist landmarks: Westminster Bridge and the Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament. 

Today in the aftermath of the attack, we're including an infographic photo of how the attacks happened and some videos which retrace it.

Our condolences to the victims, amongst who is a woman who has family roots in Betanzos.

Videos:

- Video with data:

- Retracing the attacker's route:

"RAFAEL DIESTE" 4ºESO STUDENTS' TRIP TO LONDON

We're glad to announce that this afternoon, a group of twelve 4ºESO students from our school will be boarding on a plane in Alvedro on a 5-day trip to London.

They'll be visiting important landmarks in the capital* and they'll also be visiting a school in the village of Waddesdon, 95kms away. There, they'll also go to visit Waddesdon Manor, which belonged to the Rothschild family.

Have a good trip! Enjoy!

+ info: Waddesdon Manor
* BREAKING NEWS: TERROR ATTACK @ WESTMINSTER.
Unfortunately, as they were boarding on the plane, we've learnt that there has been a terrorist attack on Westminter Bridge by the Big Ben & Houses of Parliament.
Link to LATEST UPDATES OF THE NEWS.
Info on the attack:

BASICS WHEN TRAVELLING TO LONDON

This year our 4th ESO students won't be travelling to Nuremberg on the usual student exchange. This year they'll be spending 5 days in London! So to help, here are some basic notes for when travelling there. 

Video 1:

Video 2:

Video 3:

LONDON TOWERS

From TheLondonist by Mike Hall.

For well over 200 years, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral presided over the skyline of London. Today, it barely registers. This composite image from Mike Hall pulls together the capital's loftiest peaks, all drawn to scale — from the spires of Christopher Wren to the dominant Shard.

Click on TheLondonist web:

Towers Of London: City's Tallest Buildings In One Lofty Drawing

More by Mike Hall:

Hand-Drawn Panorama Of London From The Shard

HOW LONDON WAS CREATED

Bringing you a video that shows how London was created and developed throughout the years.

Video "HOW LONDON WAS CREATED"

Video "THE LONDON EVOLUTION":

[13th CW] THE HISTORY OF LONDON: THE BIGGEST & THE SMALLEST CITY IN THE UK.

[From Bristoleños.com]

As if it was the Vatican City and Rome, London (UK capital city) has a borough called the 'City', but it isn't a borough, it has a special distinction that sets back a long time ago. Below you can watch a video which clearly explains the main differences between them, but here's a summary of the most important ones:

- More than 8 million people live in Greater London (the grey area of the map above), the capital of England and the UK.

- About 11.000 people live in the City of London (the red area of the map above). It has a totally independent organization from the rest of the country.

- Both cities have different councils, lord majors, police and even laws and collect their own taxes.

- The City of London sometimes acts like Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland or England, the other countries that make up the UK.

- The organization that rules the City is older than England's.

- The City was founded by the Romans, called Londinium. They built a wall and the city grew within it. After William I, the Conqueror, had united England, he couldn't defeat the City, so he offered the Londoners some privileges that have lasted since 1705 until now.

- Later, William I founded another capital, Westminster, to diminish power from the City. This city grew so much to become Greater London.

- Not all London and England's laws are directly applied on the City. 

- Another curiosity is the tradition that the Queen of England can't enter the City without asking for permission to the Major of London.

Video:

HOW LONDON TUBE EXPANDED: THE TUBE MAP TIMELINE

Just in case any of you have the oppotunity of visiting London this summer, here's a map you will have to be acquainted to, if you go: the London Tube's Map. But here's also a video which shows the history and the expansion of London's Tube network from 1863 (152 years ago). Watch and listen the whole story:

Video:

A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF LONDON

Once again, a post devoted to the city of London. Today a bird's eye view of United Kingdom's capital. Take a look at iconic sites including Greenwich, Tate Modern, and the Natural History Museum from a completely new perspective.

Video:

PADDINGTON

There's a new film with London as the background. The adventures of a bear that came all the way from the jungle in Peru to London to find a home and get his new name after one of London's famous railway stations: Paddington.

All about this character Paddington:
- at its website.
- Paddington Bear, a brief story.

The video trailers of the film:

TINY LONDON

Here's a nice video of a tiny (=very small) London.

SURPRISING CURIOSITIES OF BRITISH HISTORY

"I NEVER KNEW THAT ABOUT BRITAIN" is a British TV programme series which explores surprising aspects of British history. Here's an episode in the series which answers the following questions:

- WHERE IS THE CENTRE OF LONDON?

- WHY DO THE BRITISH DRIVE ON THE LEFT?

- WHO INVENTED TRAFFIC LIGHTS?

A HISTORY OF LONDON'S TALLEST BUILDINGS (IN A 60 SEC VIDEO)

Here's a video from the Londonist which shows the history of London's tallest buildings in only 60 seconds.

Video:

LONDON'S TOWER BRIDGE 120th BIRTHDAY

Photo above: Opening of the London Bridge.

[By Jonathan @ Londontopia for Londonfiles]

Today marks the day 120 years ago that Tower Bridge was officially opened by the Prince of Wales (not the current one obviously). This special bridge is one that many associate with London. Anyone who sees this Bridge immediately knows that it’s in London (so it’s often the first thing shown in stock footage about London). It’s certainly a beautiful bridge. The Bridge is celebrating its birthday today – it was opened on this day in 1894 by the Prince of Wales, (the future King Edward VII) with much celebration.

So, with much fanfare, here are 10 facts and figures you probably didn’t know about the iconic Bridge.

It's actually not the London Bridge.

It’s a common misconception that the bridge is called London Bridge (and that there’s a song about it). This is actually called Tower Bridge, London Bridge is further down the river and is much more utilitarian.

There were over 50 designs of the bridge.

When the decision was taken to build a bridge, a design contest was held to choose the best design. Over 50 designs were submitted – some close to what was built and some that were absolutely bonkers. The evaluation of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not until 1884 that a design submitted by Sir Horace Jones, the City Architect (who was also one of the judges), was approved. Check out a gallery of the other designs here.

You can watch the bridge live, 24 hours a day.

There’s a live HD Webcam trained on Tower Bridge 24 hours a day. Watch it here.

What's in a name?

Tower Bridge isn’t named so because it is one of the few bridges on the Thames that features towers. In fact, it’s named after the Tower of London which is located on one side of the Bridge. The Tower of London also influenced the final design.

Raw numbers.

The bridge is 800 feet (244 m) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 m) high, built on piers. The central span of 200 feet (61 m) between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 86 degrees to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules, weighing over 1,000 tons each, are counterbalanced to minimize the force required and allow raising in five minutes.

Ladies of the night.

The high-level open air walkways between the towers gained an unpleasant reputation as a haunt for prostitutes and pickpockets; as they were only accessible by stairs they were seldom used by regular pedestrians, and were closed in 1910. In 1982 they were reopened as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, a display housed in the bridge’s twin towers, the high-level walkways and the Victorian engine rooms.

Bridge openings.

The bridge usually opens at least once a day and if you’re a boat that requires an opening, you need to book it in advance. The bascules are raised around 1000 times a year. River traffic is now much reduced, but it still takes priority over road traffic. Today, 24 hours’ notice is required before opening the bridge. There is no charge for vessels. You can see when the Bridge will open next on its website. It’s quite an amazing sight!

Crossing the Thames.

The bridge is crossed by over 40,000 people every day and it is still a busy and vital crossing of the Thames. The bridge is on the London Inner Ring Road, and is on the eastern boundary of the London congestion charge zone. (Drivers do not incur a charge by crossing the bridge.) To maintain the integrity of the structure, the City of London Corporation has imposed a 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) speed restriction, and an 18 ton weight limit on vehicles using the bridge. A camera system measures the speed of traffic crossing the bridge, utilizing a number plate recognition system to send fixed penalty charges to speeding drivers. So, if you ever get to cross, don’t speed across – enjoy it as a leisurely pace or else you’ll get a ticket (even in a rental car!).

Victorian engineering.

Despite having an architectural design that makes the bridge look old, it is in fact a very modern piece of architecture as construction of the bridge began in 1886 at the height of the Victorian era. It was made of steel and consisted of two towers built on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves and the towers were clad in stone to give a more “traditional” appearance to match nearby Tower of London. Tower Bridge is basically a steel frame clad in stone, a design principle not that dissimilar to modern buildings.

Concrete and steel.

More than 400 workers helped to build the bridge and over 70000 tons of concrete were was sunk to the bed of the River Thames to support the bridge. 11,000 tons of steel was used to construct the framework for Towers and Walkways.

Visiting the bridge.

It costs nothing to visit, cross and admire the bridge. There is a museum on site called the Tower Bridge Exhibition that goes into the history of the bridge and they occasionally have special exhibitions. The museum has an admissions charge. Details here.

Link to the original webpage.

THINGS TO DO WHEN VISITING LONDON

Just in case you visit London during the summer holidays, here's a video with some suggestions...

Video:

Tapescript:
What would you love to do in London? Kaplan International English asked our students to create their perfect day in the Capital.

Start your day with a river cruise down the Thames to the Houses of Parliament & Big Ben. Take a tour inside one of the world's most historic buildings.

Want to get the London look? Catch a cab to Oxford Street and enjoy an unrivalled shopping experience.

Drop those bags and take the Routemaster bus to Hyde Park. Enjoy one of the city's largest green spaces. There's even boating and swimming. 

Take the tube to Holborn and spend an hour at the British Museum. View a vast collection of world art and artefacts for free.

It's lunch time! You can walk to Covent Garden and try one of the many restaurants. Italian, Asian or modern-British? It's your choice!

Jump on the back of a rickshaw to the West End and watch Mamma Mia! Sing along to all the Abba classics.

Let's continue that musical mood! Hop on a Boris bike towards the Royal Albert Hall. Enjoy a classic concert in an iconic venue.

There's still time to party so take the next bus to Soho. It's been a long day but there's so many bars to choose from!

Do you agree with Kaplan's students? Describe your dream day in London.

IT'S CARNIVAL TIME HERE... BUT NOT IN NOTTING HILL (LONDON)

These days we're about to celebrate Carnival, like in Cádiz, Tenerife, Venice, Rio de Janeiro and many other places... In Britain Carnival is also celebrated, but not now. Bad weather could be the reason, Britain celebrates Carnival in summer, more exactly during August, and Britain's most famous Carnival celebrations are held in Notting Hill (London).

Before we go to Notting Hill, let's check up with some basic Carnival vocabulary in this first video:

The Notting Hill Carnival taking place in West London each year is Europe's biggest street festival. For two days at the end of the month of August, the members of the West Indian community flock the streets of Notting Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for one of the biggest celebration on the planet. The carnival has lived in the area since the 60s and is today attracting over a million people a year. If you are looking for a vibrant celebration, with plenty of sound systems for street dancing and numerous Caribbean food stalls serving up jerk chicken, then the Notting Hill Carnival is the place to be.

Video:

Link to more about Carnival on previous posts in this blog:

- IT'S CARNIVAL TIME (2010)

- MARDI GRAS OR FAT TUESDAY (2011)

- CARNIVAL AROUND THE WORLD (2013)

- SHROVE TUESDAY-PANCAKE DAY (2013)