One of the world's most visited cities, London has something for everyone: from history and culture to fine food and good times.
A Tale of Two Cities
London
is as much about wide-open spaces and leafy escapes as it is
high-density, sight-packed exploration. Central London is where you will
find the major museums, galleries and most iconic sights, but visit
Hampstead Heath or the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to escape the
crowds and view the city’s greener hues up close. Or venture even
further out to Kew Gardens, Richmond or Hampton Court Palace for
excellent panoramas of riverside London.
Diversity
This
city is very multicultural, with a third of all Londoners foreign born,
representing 270 different nationalities. What unites them and visitors
alike is the English language, for this is both our tongue’s birthplace
and its epicentre. These cultures season the culinary aromas on
London’s streets, the often exotic clothing people wear and the music
they listen to. London’s diverse cultural dynamism makes it among the
world’s most international cities. And diversity reaches intrinsically
British institutions too; the British and Victoria & Albert Museums
have collections as varied as they are magnificent, while flavours at
centuries-old Borough Market now run the full gourmet and cosmopolitan
spectrum.
Art & Culture
A
tireless innovator of art and culture, London is a city of ideas and
the imagination. Londoners have always been fiercely independent
thinkers (and critics), but until not so long ago people were inherently
suspicious of anything they considered avant-garde. That’s all in the
past now, and the city’s creative milieu is streaked with left-field
attitude, from theatrical innovation to contemporary art, pioneering
music, writing and design. Food in all its permutations has become
almost an obsession in certain circles.
Time Travel
London
is immersed in history, with more than its share of mind-blowing
antiquity and historic splendour. London’s buildings are eye-catching
milestones in the city’s unique and compelling biography, and a great
many of them – the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben – are
familiar landmarks. There’s more than enough innovation (the Shard, the
London Eye, the planned Garden Bridge) to put a crackle in the air, but
it never drowns out London’s well-preserved, centuries-old narrative.
Architectural grandeur rises up all around you in the West End, ancient
remains dot the City and charming pubs punctuate the banks of the
Thames. Take your pick.
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