Lovely London

The wonderful,vibrant historic Capital city of UK.I think that very few capitals of the world can have inspired so many artists, poets and most of all writers, as London.This sprawling metropolis is filled with treasures theres so much to do all the time and to complete touring London in a day seemed ridiculous.We wanted to make the most of our trip and so we decided to cover at least some. We started off as soon as we landed and covered the following.

Buckingham Palace
This palace, the official residence of the queen, was once upon a time was just Buckingham house built for the Duke of Buckingham.George IV commissioned John
Nash to rebuild the Buckingham house into Buckingham Palace. We went inside the Royal state rooms.They were lavishly furnished with some of the greatest royal collection treasures such as paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin and Canaletto; sculpture by Canova; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture.It was simply marvellous!!

It seems magnificent banquets are held in the palace in a traditional way to mark significant events and the State Banquet is the most important of them, held in honour of a visiting Head of State. This is the occasion when the queen and other members of the Royal Family entertain around 160 specially invited guests on the first evening of a State Visit. We had the chance to see the horseshoe-shaped table dressed with a dazzling display of silver-gilt from the magnificent Grand Service, lavish buffet arrangements of jewelled cups, ivory tankards and chased dishes, sconces, shields.It was spectacular!!


Big Ben:
The world's most famous timepiece.This is actually the nickname of the bell housed within the Clock Tower.Big Ben is named after Sir Benjamin Hall

No. 10 Downing St
The official residence of the prime minister isn't much of a sight but it's been the home of everybody from Sir Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher. It's the most famous address in Britain, other than Buckingham Palace.

London Eye
The newest major attraction is the London Eye.It is similar to a Giant wheel.The passengers are taken in capsules for a ride and it takes around 30 minutes to complete its revolution

The Tower Bridge
The most famous bridge in the world.History says that it took eight years to
build Tower Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1894.Horace Jones and John Wolfe Barry were the key architects behind this world famous bridge.It was phenomenal to watch the Tower Bridge lifted to allow tall ships, cruise ships to pass through.

Saravana Bhavan:
When it comes to South Indian food, you really cannot beat Saravana Bhavan.So we thought of visiting saravana Bhavan in East Ham.As usual we went unbooked and landing there we saw a big queue.Thank God it was only us, for if it were a group we would have come back disappointed.The only drawback here is the lack of space,but the food compensates it all. It felt almost like eating back in India aain. Especially when you are new to UK, this place makes you feel at home.

Transport for London:
One of London's obssessives is the London tube trains.It is the oldest and one of the busiest underground railway networks in the world.London transportation via the Tube is efficient, and runs early in the morning til late at night.I wonder how they dug deep tunnels.Especially under water.What a dangerous and tricky business it must have been!!!Well what can I say... the architecture of London amuses me a lot.

At the end of a funfilled but tiring day packed with sightseeing and good eating, we were glad that we didn't fall prey to the charms of the snooze button.

London will serve as the host city for the Summer Olympic Games of 2012. This will make London the first city to hold the Olympic Games three times, having hosted the games previously in 1908 and 1948.