2010 one london trip

GALILEO GALILEI 2010 LONDON TRIP

THIS IS A SCHOOL TRIP TO ONE OF THE

MOST FASCINATING CITIES IN EUROPE

Created by the Roman

civilisation, during the kingdom

of the Roman Emperor Claudius,

it started like a settlement in the

riverside of the Thames

Surrounded by the Britons and other Celtic tribes, Londinium

was an important control centre of Brittania . But, possibly

because of the problems betwen the Roman Empire and the

Barbarians of the North , they had to abandon Brittania.

We can see here a

piece of the Roman

Wall that

surrounded the

City. You can see it

between the walls

of the Tower of

London

Finally, in the V century, the tribes of the Anglos,

Jutos and Saxons coming from the North of Germany

and Denmark, occupied the east territories of

Britannia.

In the West, we could find the Britons that later

escaped and arrived in Armorica, a place that today

is known as Brittany.

The people from Wales and other ancient tribes

from “Scotia” stayed in the West and North.

Some centuries later, Brittania was attacked

by the Vikings and Danish, until these people

settled in the east territories. The anglosaxons

fought against them and the king Alfred the

Great of Wessex succeeded in this war.

But in the XI century, everything changed. The king of

Normandy, William the Conqueror, arrived in Brittania asking

for his rights to the throne, and turned the country into a

modern state, unifying the territory. London began to expand.

The traders and the ships transformed the

town, but the bad health conditions led to the

Black Death, in the XIV century.

Meanwhile, England fought against some kingdoms and

territories of France over the rights to the French land. The One

hundred years War ruined the people and destroyed the land.

The Crusaders tried to rescue the Sacred Lands and Richard

Lyon Heart died while John without Land was forced to accept

the conditions of the aristocratic people of London.

Soon, other important wars began in Europe, the Religious Wars.

Henry the VIII, who did not have permission from the Pope to

divorce one of his wives, became the Head of a new religion, the

Anglican Religion, and, because of that, he killed some oponents and

took the lands of the monks, transforming the whole city of London.

He is famous for his six

wives.

Hyde Park,

like others,

was one of the

lands that

belonged to

the monks

before Henry

the VIII took

it.

Little by little, the trades in England developed greatly,

even more after the discovery of the New World, when

the Kingdom won the war against one of its main

enemies, Spain.

The most important figure in this period was not a King

but a Queen, Queen Elizabeth I, from the Tudor

dynasty . The Isabeline style marked this period of

history in England and London.

During this period, the sailor

Francis Drake travelled around

the coast of Alaska and North

America. When he arrived in

London, in his boat, the Golden

Hinde, the Queen gave him the

title of Sir.

After that, he was known by the

Spanish people as Drake, the

pirate.

During her reign,

the Shakespeare

theatre flourished .

The theatre was not

very appreciated by

people, and for this

reason, the theatres

were first built in

Southwark, between

taverns, and houses

with bad reputation.

After that, the power of the

Parliament was doubted by

King Charles I, from the Stuart

Dynasty. The Parliament

forces, led by Oliver Cromwell,

won the war against Charles,

and a dictatorial period began,

in which many Christians in

England, Scotland and Ireland

were killed.

After that, the monarchy returned, and the body of

Cromwell was hung and beheaded. And the restoration

began, with the next Stuart King, Charles the II.

After some decades, London was faced with another

plague in 1665 (it was supposed to be started by the

Textile Traders of Holland) and the big fire in 1666.

This is the Monument, built to remember this fire.

The English Army developed enormously,

arriving in new lands and settling in new islands

and continents . The richness of the country

increased and its power in the seas became

obvious when the Army won the battle of

Trafalgar, against the Spanish and French

people.

This

monument was

built to

remember the

admiral of this

army, Lord

Nelson, who

died in the

battle. The

length of this

column is the

length of the

main stick of

his boat, the

HMS Victory.

At this time, another dynasty ruled the destiny of

Great Britain, the Hanover dynasty, originated in

Germany with George I, who never learned the

English language. This marked a new style in

architecture, the Georgian style. We can find many

Georgian houses in Bloomsbury, the place we

stayed in London.

By this period, the City was

so big that it reached

another town on its side,

Westminster.

This place is the point where

the two towns meet.

Soon, with the

inventions of the

steam machine, by

Watt, and the

development of the

industry and mining,

Great Britain became

one of the richest

countries in the world.

Apart from this, it

became a powerful

colonial Empire,

mainly with Queen

Victoria.

The Victorian

period is the time

when Charles

Dickens and

Arthur Conan

Doyle lived.

The Queen

started a new

dynasty, the

Sajonia-Coburg

Gotha dynasty.

In the XX century, the two World Wars took place. And due to the

first WW, and the anti-German feeling, the name of the Dynasty

changed to Windsor. The industrial development caused the first

pollution problems in the town because of the use of coal in

houses and industries.

The airplane bombing during the Second World War

(The Blitz) destroyed many places in the East End. In

these places, we now have modern buildings and

empty spaces.

In the middle of this century, Queen Elisabeth II rose to the

throne. Despite this, the country was going through several

problems including many changes in politics, facing

unemployement, immigration, European changes, etc.

Now, we are flying to

London.

Luton was our airport and

our destination was

Bloomsbury, in north

London, near the British

Museum and Russell Square.

LEICESTER SQUARE, OUR

FIRST CONTACT

WITH LONDON

SURROUNDED BY THE THEATRE

TICKETS SHOPS, WE GOT TO TRAFALGAR

SQUARE

THE CITY HAS PLENTY OF THEATRES

Walking down the

streets, watching

people who are

always in a hurry ,

we reached Covent

Garden, an ancient

monks market

transformed into a

pretty square

And it was the end of our

first day. The weather was

fine but a bit colder at night.

The hotel was full of student

groups, many of them from

Spain, but there were also

Italian, British people…

The second day

began with a

fantastic tour on a

hop-on hop-off bus.

We chose the red

line.

The bus passed

along the British

Museum

Saint Paul’s Cathedral is one

the most famous buildings in

London. In front of it, we can

see a Queen Ann’s statue.

This Queen was the first

Queen for both the English,

Scottish and Irish.

It is said that her eyes are

watching a pub

The Millennium bridge, by

Foster, and the Tate

Museum at the bottom

Little by little, we reached

our destination.

But before that, the most

famous bridge in London:

The Tower Bridge

It is a functioning

bridge, and it can

be opened for

ships in less than

two minutes

THE TOWER OF LONDON, HOME FOR SOME, A PRISON FOR OTHERS, A CERTAIN DEATH FOR

THE REST

Built by William the

Conqueror, it was spread by

other kings like Henry the

VIII.

Some victims of this king,

entered through this gate,

and were never released,,,

INSIDE, THE RAVENMASTER TAKES CARE OF THE RAVENS. IT IS SAID THAT IF THEY FLY AWAY, THE ENGLISH MONARCHY WILL END, BUT, OF COURSE, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE, AS THEIR WINGS

ARE CLIPPED

After visiting the Tower and its treasures, like

the crown jewellery , we took a river cruise

over the Thames…

Then, we took another tour bus to get to

another part of the city…

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES HOUSE

Then it started to rain when we got on the bus

to the hotel. And thus, we were on time for

dinner

The third day started on a very packed tube…

You know…

Our objective

was the Royal

London Walk,

which started

near Trafalgar

Square.

Here, we could

see some Harry’s

Hawks …

And Michael Caine

After buying the tickets for a big musical show that we

were going to see in the evening… we started walking,

to the Buckingham Gardens and the Whitehall…

Downing

Street at the

back, the House

of the Prime

Minister, that at

this moment was

Gordon Brown

At Buckingham Palace, we were told that the

Changing of the Guards couldn’t take place,

and we still don’t know why.

This is the St

James’s Palace,

the official home

for the princes

of Wales…

And after a short lunch near

Westminster Abbey, we could

go inside .

With plenty of graves and

tombs, we could also find the

mausoleums of Elisabeth I,

Mary I Tudor, Haendel,

Chaucer, Darwin, Cromwell

AND IN THE AFTERNOON , WE VISITED THE BRITISH MUSEUM

We started with

the Rosseta Rock,

the key to

transcribe the

hieroglyphics

writings of the

Egyptians.

Found by the

French, it was

part of a Peace

Treaty between

the two countries.

Egyptian and

Mesopotami

an art

The Lord Elgin’s Marbles,

taken off from the Parthenon

and other Greek Temples

With only one

hour, we can

see other

Greek objects

…

Crafts from the First

Nations of North

America, like the Plains

Tribes and the Totems of

the North West Coast…

And finally other objects from

the Romans…and others

Then , the fantastic musical

show WE WILL ROCK YOU,

based on the music and life of

Queen

W

hen we finally ended our visit, we searched, as

usual, for a place to have dinner.

W

ho really knows what the children had ? Maybe

another McDonalds’ burger? Another pizza?

T

he fourth day we visited the Science Museum,

with plenty of inventions…

F

or example, a lot of steam machines…

L

ater, we spent our time

visiting Harrods and

having lunch.

T

his is a picture of the

most famous

department store in

London: Harrods.

Inside , you can find a

lot of Egyptian

decorations

In the afternoon, we visited

the Natural Science

Museum, with all the well-

known specimens of

dinosaurs and ancient

reptiles

And at the end of the day, we took a walk

through Hyde Park…watching monuments like

the Albert Memorial…

The Lady Dyana fontaine

And later, we went to Oxford

Street to do some shopping

and then to have dinner…

The next day, a bit more cloudy, we went to

another famous place in London: NOTTING

HILL and PORTOBELLO ROAD

These are the houses of

Notting Hill, on our way to

Portobello Road and its well-

known market.

And finally Portobello

Market, plenty of T-shirts,

postcards, colourful clothes,

and many souvenirs of

London

And later, on the tube, where some of our students had to travel

twice to reach Greenwich.

In Greenwich, we had to make a decision: going to

the Maritime National Museum or going to the Royal

Observatory. We chose the latter option, seeing the

Oº Meridian and the division between East and West.

After walking to the top of

the hill…

A nice trip in the Royal

Observatory, between

telescopes….

In the evening, we tried to get on the London Eye

again. Unfortunately for me, it was necessary for an

adult to go with the students: another small sacrifice …

And on the last night in

London, why not walking to

the Monument?

And during the last morning

in London, we did the last

shopping in Candem Town.

Famous for his leather

jackets, we can found some

strange places…

And the last friends…

AND WE SAID GOODBYE TO LONDON AT GATWICK…

BUT WE ONLY SAID “SEE YOU TOMORROW”, NICE CITY…

THE END