March 22nd, 2011 by admin

The major global city in the United Kingdom and one of the largest financial centers in the world, London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and England. It has a contribution globally in all the rich and varied fields like politics, finance, education, entertainment etc. Founded by the ancient Romans, this city today has a wide range of diversities in religion and culture.

London is also one of the top tourist spots. There are many attractions in and around the city which holds a key destination for both domestic and overseas visitors. There are many man-made attractions that makes this city the center and most popular among the tourists. The famous museum made out of wax, The London Dungeon, showing the darker and grim side of life, is one of the top ranked man-made museums located in the heart of the city. Buckingham Palace is another famous and world’s most popular tourist destination in London. It was built in 1703 and marks the royalty of London today. The famous British Museum which is a host to a collection of a huge number of artifacts from around the world stands one of the favorite and popular museums in the world today. This museum also boasts of housing the earliest image of Christ in the world. Established in 1753, this museum still is open for the public to have a look at the age-old artifacts and antique-collections from around the world.

London is also famous for its Clock Tower. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock in the world today and no tourist will prefer leaving London without having a look at this huge Clock Tower at least once. Madam Tussaud’s is among one the most popular museums in the world today, located in the heart of the city of London. This museum has life-size replicas of today’s celebrities built in wax. Madam Tussaud’s museum not only hosts such wax made popular people, but also shows the tourist the nearby located most popular London Planetarium. Trafalgar Square is another tourist attraction which commemorates the victories of London and to honor those people who have died fighting for London, still remains as a popular travel destination. The London Eye, also known as The Millennium Wheel, one of the tallest Ferris wheels in the world shows different views of the city and amazing locations from a large height. It also stands for being the fourth tallest structure built in the city.

In terms of economy too, London is among the leading centers in the world today. Being a major center for international business and commerce today, London is the top third in the world economy; after New York and Tokyo. London also is a home that provides a wide range of education to the students all around the globe. Every year, thousands of students look forward to get admitted in the top universities and schools in London. It has a very famous mark in the field of education. The rich and varied cultural diversities in London hold a place for many entertainments and leisure parks in and around the city attracting most of the tourists every year.

March 15th, 2011 by admin

The City of London is a little area within Greater London, England. It is the momentous core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s borders have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London. It is frequently referred to as the City or the Square Mile, as it is just over one square mile (1.12 mile²/2.9km²) in area. These conditions are also often used as metonymies for the United Kingdom’s financial services industry, which has historically been based here.

In the period of medieval, the City was the full extent of London. The phrase London now refers to a much larger conurbation roughly corresponding to Greater London, a local government area which includes 32 London boroughs as well as the City of London, which is not one of the 32 London boroughs. The home authority for the City, the City of London Corporation, is unique in the United Kingdom, and has some unusual responsibilities for a local authority in Britain, such as being the police authority for the City. It also has responsibilities and ownerships ahead of the City’s boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, a split (and much older) office to the Mayor of London.

The City is today a most important business and financial centre, ranking on a par with New York City as the leading centre of global finance; in the 19th century, the City served as the world’s primary business centre. The City has a local population of approximately 8,000, but around 340,000 people work there, mainly in the financial services sector. The legal profession form a most important component of the western side of the City, in and around the Inns of Court, of which two - the Inner and Middle Temples - fall within the City of London boundary.

Gardens are maintained by the Corporation inside the City. These varieties from formal gardens such as the one in Fins bury Circus, containing a bowling green and bandstand, to churchyards such as one belonging to the church of St Olave Hart Street, entered from Seething Lane. Gardens included here are Barber-Surgeon’s Hall Garden - London Wall, Cleary Garden - Queen Victoria Street, Fins bury Circus - Blomfield Street or London Wall or Moorgate, Jubilee Garden - Hounds ditch, Portsoken Street Garden - Portsoken Street or Goodman’s Yard, Postman’s Park - Alders gate or King Edward Street, Seething Lane Garden - Seething Lane, St Dunstan-in-the-East - St Dunstan’s Hill or Idol Lane, St Mary Aldermanbury - Aldermanbury, the churchyard of St Olave Hart Street - Seething Lane, St Paul’s Churchyard - St Paul’s Cathedral, West Smithfield Garden - West Smithfield, Whittington Gardens - College Street or Upper Thames Street. One of the extra unusual hotels was the Unborn Yacht, a floating hotel by the Excel centre in East London and constructed specifically for that purpose (it had no engine).

March 12th, 2011 by admin

Travel London was a bus operator in London which was initially a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In the year May 2009 the company was sold to Ned Railways. In the year October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio. Travel London came into survival in its current guise when National Express bought Connex Bus (established in UK in 1996, a division of French owned transport corporation Connex) in 2004. Paradoxically has taken over an existing operator Limebourne Buses which had actually taken over the original Travel London when that was sold. In 2005 NEG expanded again with the takeover of the London Bus operations of Telling-Golden Miller as well as 15 Surrey County Council contracts. Travel London is the sister corporation of Travel West Midlands and Travel Dundee.

Next the acquisitions of Limebourne, Connex Bus, Telling-Golden Miller, Wings Buses and Link-Line, Travel London had a wide operating area within Greater London and Surrey. The corporation operated contracts on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), Surrey County Council, and Kingston University. Operations are dividing between three registered companies. From early on September 2007, the Surrey routes operated from by fleet under the Travel London (West) license depot were re-branded as Travel Surrey. On 11 November 2007, National Express Group announced tactics to re-brand their UK bus service companies under the National Express identity. The innovative name National Express London was meant to have be unveiled in 2008, however the plans never materialized before the sale.

In year February 2009 there were news reports speculating that the National Express Group were in negotiation to sell Travel London to Singapore based ComfortDelGro Corporation, the parent company of Metro line, which has substantial London Buses contracts in North and West London. Assumption continued fuelled by the fact Travel London won some significant TfL route contracts, which could have been gained on a low price with the idea the buyer would have to run the routes. In the year May 2009, it was announced that National Express Group had agreed to sell Travel London to Ned Railways, a subsidiary of NS Dutch Railways, for a price of £32 million. The deal includes 66 bus routes in total, 36 TfL tendered services in London and 30 Surrey County Council and Kingston University routes. All vehicles and premises used were sold, and all staff will transfer to Ned Railways.

Several other large hotels were built in London in the Victorian period. The Langham Hotel was the biggest in the city when it opened in 1865. The Savoy, perhaps London’s most well-known hotel, opened in 1889, the first London hotel with en-suite bathrooms to every room. Nine years later Claridge’s was rebuilt in its current form. One more famous hotel, the Ritz, based on its even more celebrated namesake in Paris, opened in 1906.The upper end of the London hotel business continued to grow between the two World Wars, boosted by the fact that many landowning families could no longer afford to maintain a London house and therefore began to stay at hotels instead, and by an increasing number of foreign visitors, especially Americans.