Summer is perhaps the best season for tourists as it has long daylight hours as well as mild tempera

London is an enormous city. It is divided into thirty-two boroughs, although information on this page is divided between ocean cruises 3 day districts , inner boroughs and outer boroughs of the city . These district and borough articles contain sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.
Noisy, vibrant and truly multicultural, London is a megalopolis of people, ocean cruises 3 day ideas and frenetic energy. The capital and largest city of both the United Kingdom and of England , it is also the largest city in Western Europe and the European Union. Situated on the River Thames in South-East England ocean cruises 3 day , Greater London has an official population of a little over 8 million — although the figure of 14 million for the city's metropolitan area more accurately reflects its size and importance. Considered one of two of the world's leading "global cities", London remains an international capital of culture, music, education, fashion, ocean cruises 3 day politics, finance and trade.
The name London originally referred only to the once-walled "Square Mile" of the original Roman (and later medieval) city (confusingly called the " City of London " or just "The City"). Today, London has taken on a much larger meaning to include all of the vast central parts of the modern ocean cruises 3 day metropolis, with the city having absorbed numerous surrounding towns and villages over the centuries, including large portions ocean cruises 3 day of the surrounding ocean cruises 3 day "home counties", one of which - Middlesex - being completely ocean cruises 3 day consumed by the growing metropolis. The term Greater London embraces Central London ocean cruises 3 day together with all the outlying suburbs that lie in one continuous urban sprawl within the lower Thames valley. Though densely ocean cruises 3 day populated by New World standards, London retains large swathes of green parkland and open space, even within the city centre.
Greater London consists of 32 London boroughs and the City of London that, together with the office of the Mayor of London, form the basis for London's local government. The Mayor of London is elected by London residents and should not be confused with the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The names of several boroughs, such as Westminster ocean cruises 3 day or Camden , are well-known, others less so, such as Wandsworth or Lewisham . This traveller's guide to London recognises cultural, functional and social districts of varying type and size:
Bloomsbury Vibrant historic district made famous by a group of turn-of-the-century writers (see Literary London ) [1] and for being the location of the British Museum, the University of London and numerous historic homes, parks, and buildings. Part of the Borough of Camden.
City of London The City is where London originally ocean cruises 3 day developed within the Roman city walls and is a city in its own right, separate from the rest of London. It is now the most important financial centre in the world, but an area where modern skyscrapers stand next to medieval churches on ancient street layouts.
East End a traditional working class heartland of inner London to the east of The City made famous by countless movies and TV shows, and home to trendy bars, art galleries and parks, especially in the Shoreditch, Hoxton, Old Street area. Now redeveloped ocean cruises 3 day and world famous as the setting for London 2012 Olympic Games.
Southwark-Lewisham inner southern districts of London, traditionally residential, with a large melting pot of communities. The area retains ocean cruises 3 day some leftfield, quirky attractions. You can just about find a resturant from any ethnic group in the world too.
West Taking in much of the ancient English county of Middlesex (which many residents still identify with rather than "London") and former parts of Buckinghamshire. Heathrow Airport is located in this part of the city.
North Largely made up of lush green upper middle-class/bourgeois suburbs, many of which were formerly part of the counties of Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire before being absorbed into Greater London.
East Mostly originally part of the county of Essex, taking in former industrial areas on the upper Thames Estuary such as Beckton, Dagenham and Barking. To the North East lies the gateway to the affluent Epping Forest area
Settlement has existed on the site of London since well before Roman times, with evidence of Bronze Age and Celtic settlement. The Roman city of Londinium, established just after the Roman conquest of Britannia in the year 43, formed the basis for the modern city (some isolated Roman period remains are still to be seen within the City). After the end of Roman rule in 410 and a short-lived decline, London experienced a gradual revival under the Anglo-Saxons, as well as the Norsemen, and emerged as a great medieval trading city, and eventually replaced Winchester as the royal capital of England. This paramount status for London was confirmed when William ocean cruises 3 day the Conqueror, a Norman, built the Tower of London after the conquest in 1066 and was crowned King of England in Westminster .
London went from strength to strength and with the rise of England to first European then global prominence and the city became ocean cruises 3 day a great centre of culture, government and industry. London's long association with the theatre, for example, can be traced back to the English renaissance ocean cruises 3 day (witness the Rose Theatre [2] and great playwrights like Shakespeare who made London their home). With the rise of Britain to supreme maritime power in the 18th and 19th centuries and the possessor of the largest global empire, London became an imperial capital and drew people and influences from around the world to become, for many years, the largest city in the world.
The Royal familes over the previous centuries, added much to the London scene for today's traveller: the Albert Memorial , Buckingham Palace , Kensington ocean cruises 3 day Palace , Royal Albert Hall , Tower of London , Kew Palace and Westminster Abbey being prominent examples.
Despite the inevitable decline of the British Empire, and considerable suffering during World War II (when London was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the Blitz), the city is still a top-ranked world city: a global centre of culture, finance, and learning. Today London is easily the largest city in the United Kingdom, eight times larger ocean cruises 3 day than the second largest, Birmingham , and ten times larger ocean cruises 3 day than the third, Glasgow , and dominates the economic, political and social life of the nation. It is full of excellent bars, galleries, museums, parks and theatres. It is also the most culturally and ethnically diverse ocean cruises 3 day part of the country, making it a great multicultural ocean cruises 3 day city to visit. Samuel Johnson famously said, "when one is tired of London, one is tired of life." Whether you are interested in ancient history, modern art, opera or underground raves, London has it all.
The commercial capital was the City of London . This had a dense population ocean cruises 3 day and all the other pre-requisites of a medieval ocean cruises 3 day city: walls, a castle (The Tower of London), a cathedral (St Pauls), a semi-independent City government, a port and a bridge across which all trade was routed so Londoners could make money (London Bridge).
About an hour upstream (on foot or by boat) around a bend in the river was the government capital ( Westminster ). This had a church for crowning the monarch (Westminster Abbey) and palaces. As each palace was replaced by a larger ocean cruises 3 day one, the previous one was used for government, first the Palace of Westminster (better known as the Houses of Parliament), then Whitehall, ocean cruises 3 day then Buckingham Palace. The two were linked by a road called The "Strand", old English for riverbank.
London grew both west and east. The land to the west of the City (part of the parish of Westminster) was prime farming land ( Covent Garden and Soho for example) and made good building land. The land to the east was flat, marshy and cheap, good for cheap housing and industry, and later for docks. Also the wind blows 3 days out of 4 from west to east, and the Thames (into which the sewage went) flows from west to east. So the West End was up-wind and up-market, the East End was where people worked for a living.
Despite a perhaps unfair reputation for being unsettled, London enjoys a dry and mild climate on average. Only one in three days on average will bring rain and often only for a short period. In some years such as 2010 there is no rain for several weeks.
Winter in London is mild compared to nearby ocean cruises 3 day continental European cities, due to both the presence of the Gulf Stream and urban heat effect. Average daily maximum is 8°C (46°F) in December and January. Snow does occur, usually a few times a year but rarely heavy (a few years being exceptions such as the winters of 2009 and 2010, with temperatures dipping down to sub-zeros regularly). Snow in London can be crippling, as seen at the end of 2010. Just 7 cm (3 in) of snow will cause trains to stop running, airports to see significant delays, and mail service will halt. London is a city which does not cope well with snow; walkways, stairs, and streets will not be cleared by shovels ocean cruises 3 day or ploughs. The streets will be salted/gritted, ocean cruises 3 day but will remain slick and snow/slush covered until the sun melts it away. Daylight hours are short with darkness filling up the sky by 4pm in December.
Summer is perhaps the best season for tourists as it has long daylight hours as well as mild temperatures. The average daily high temperatures in July and August are around 24°C (75°F) ocean cruises 3 day The highest temperature since 2000 was recorded once in August at 38°C (100°F). This means London can feel hot and humid for several days in the summer months. Also, because of urban heat effect, during night time it could feel muggy.
Britain and London Visitor Centre ( BLVC ), 1 Regent St, SW1Y 4XT ( nearest tube station Piccadilly Circus ), ☎ +44 870 156 6366 , [3] . M 09:30-18:00 (Oct-Mar), M 09:30-18:30 (Apr-Sep), ocean cruises 3 day Tu-F 09:00-18:00 (Oct-Mar), Tu-F 09:00-18:30 (Apr-Sep), Sa 10:00-16:00 (Oct-May), Sa 09:00-17:00 (Jun-Sep), Su 10:00-16:00, Public holidays: 10:00-16:00. ocean cruises 3 day Closed 25-26 Dec and 1 Jan . Visit London is the