London

The Big Ben

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. It is in the south-east of England on the River Thames. People have lived in this city for nearly two thousand years, and 7.5 million people live there today, which makes it one of the biggest cities in Europe. It has important museums, gardens and other good places for tourists to visit. The history of the city began when the Romans built a city called Londinium on the River Thames in the year 43 AD. The name Londinium (and then 'London') came from the Celtic language of the Ancient Britons. In the year 61 AD, Queen Boudica (a British Celtic queen) and her army destroyed the city. Boudica killed herself when Romans trapped her and the Romans then rebuilt London. London became an important trading city. However, after the Romans left Britain, no one lived in the city for a long time because the Anglo-Saxons liked living in the countryside. In the 9th century, people started living there again. It became the largest city in England, but it did not become the capital city of England until the 12th century.
After that, London grew very big. Greater London has 33 Boroughs and a mayor. The old City of London is only a square-mile in size but has its own mayor.

London Bus

Another famous old part of Greater London is Westminster, which was always a different city from the City of London. Westminster has Westminster Abbey (a cathedral), The Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament, with the Big Ben) and 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives).
London has a temperate climate, people usually think that it rains a lot. This is not completely true, it rains often but very lightly. Summer temperatures rarely rise much above 33 °C during the summer or drop below zero in the winter.

Have a nice trip!

Buckingham Palace

London under the rain