Shopping and eating

You can buy nearly anything in London. Many of the most famous (and expensive) shops are in Regent Street, Bond Street, and in Knightsbridge. The most famous shop in all of the city - some people say the most famous in the world - is Harrods, in Knightsbridge. It began in 1849 when Henry Charles Harrod opened a small food shop in Brompton Road. The building in Knightsbridge opened in 1905, and now 4,000 people work there. Some people go there and buy something very, very small, just because they want the bag with the famous 'Harrods' name on it.

Oxford Street has many big shops - Selfridges, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams. For smaller shops, go to Covent Garden. Charing Cross Road is famous for its bookshops. There are lots of them, and they sell old and new books.

At weekends you can visit some of London's markets. Petticoat Lane market (open on Sundays) is in Middlesex Street, and has cheap clothes and things for the home. At the market in Portobello Road (open on Saturdays) you can buy old clocks, old chairs and tables, and hundreds of other things. At Brick Lane market (open on Sundays) in the East End, you can buy nearly everything. Old Spitalfield: Market in Commercial Street (open on Sundays) has some of the latest clothes in town - and they're cheap! When it is time for food, London has everything. You can have dinner in an expensive restaurant for hundreds of pounds — or you can buy a sandwich for not very much at all. You can eat in cafes or bars, you can buy food and take it away, and of course you can buy English fish and chips! London has restaurants from nearly every country in the world, and not all of them are expensive. You can find food from Italy, Mexico, Spain, India, China, Russia, and many other countries. There are hundreds of good restaurants in Piccadilly, Soho, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden, and more in Kensingston, Knightsbridge, and Chelsea.

For a very English afternoon, go to the Ritz in Piccadilly or the Savoy Hotel in the Strand for afternoon tea. You can listen to music, drink tea, and eat wonderful food. But remember to take a lot of money with you!

And do not forget about pubs. There are thousands of pubs in London. In many pubs you can eat and drink, and pub food is often cheap and good.

Travelling

When you come to London, do not bring a car. Take an underground train or a bus. Or walk!

The Underground - also called the Tube - is fast. The trains go from about 5 a.m. (later at weekends) to about midnight. Buy your ticket before you get on the train, and don't lose it. You need it when you begin your journey and when you finish it.

Between eight o'clock and ten o'clock in the morning, and between four o'clock and six o'clock in the evening, thousands of people are going to and from work. This is the morning and evening 'rush hour', and you cannot move easily on the trains and the buses. It is much nicer and quieter when you do not travel in the rush hour.

You can see much more of London from the famous red buses than from the Tube. There are buses for visitors too; they take you around many of the interesting places in the city. It takes about one and a half hours, but you can get off the bus for a visit and get on again later.

Or you can travel in one of London's famous black taxis (also called 'black cabs'). Most of hem are black but some are blue, red, green, or white. Drivers must know all the 25,000 streets in the centre of London before they can drive a taxi here.

Why not go by boat along the River Thames? Boats leave Westminster Pier, Waterloo Pier, and Embankment Pier, and they go to Tower Pier, Greenwich, and (between April and October) Hampton Court.

Big red buses . . . Buckingham Palace . . . the London Eye . . . Big Ben - these are only some of the things in London. It is a big, beautiful, noisy, and exciting city. More than eleven million visitors come every year from countries all over the world.

So, when are you coming to London?

GLOSSARY

artpictures and other beautiful things that people like to look at

banka building or business for keeping money safely

bara room where people can buy and have drinks

bella metal thing that makes a sound when something touches it

boata small ship for travelling on water

bomba thing that explodes and damages people or things

boneone of the hard white parts inside an animal's or a person's body

bridgesomething built high to go over a river or road

cafea place where people can buy and eat food and drink

capital (city)the most important city in a country

celebrateto enjoy yourself because you have a special reason to be happy

centurya time of 100 years

churcha building where people pray to God

clothesthings you wear, e.g. shirts, trousers, dresses

cluba place where you go to dance and listen to music

coacha vehicle with four wheels that is pulled by horses

concertmusic played for a lot of people

coronationthe special day when a man is made king, or a woman is made queen

destroywhen something is destroyed, it is dead and finished (e.g. fire destroys a forest)

docksa place on a river or by the sea where ships bring people and things

exhibit(n) something people go to look at e.g. in a museum or gallery

figuresomething made to look like the head and body of a person

flaga piece of cloth with a special pattern on it; every country has a flag

floodwhen there is a flood, a lot of water covers the land

foodwhat you eat

gallerya place where you can see paintings and other kinds

of art governmenta group of people who control a country

horrorvery great fear

horsea big animal that can carry people and pull heavy things

kingthe most important man in a country

museuma place where you can look at old or interesting things

musicwhen you sing or play an instrument, you make music

Olympic Gamesgames held every four years for sports people from many different countries

paintinga picture made with paint

paradea line of people who are walking together for a special reason, while other people watch them

plaguea very bad illness that makes thousands of people die

play(n) you go to the theatre to see a play

prisona building for bad people; they stay there and cannot leave

queenthe most important woman in a country

restauranta place where people can buy and eat meals

ring(v) to make a sound like a bell

royalof or about a king or queen

sciencethe study of natural things St short for 'Saint', part of the name of a very good or holy person

statuethe shape of a person or an animal that is made of stone or metal

topthe highest part of something

viewwhat you can see from a certain place

warfighting between countries or groups of people

waxthe soft stuff that candles are made from

London ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

Before Reading

1 Here are six famous places. Can you match the names with the photos?

2 How many of these places are you going to find in a book about London? Which places are they? What do you know about them? What other places can you name in London, and what do you know about them?

While Reading

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1969