London, England, Vacations And Buckingham Palace

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London, England, Vacations And Buckingham Palace

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

England is a most wonderful nation in which to spend a vacation. There are a great many tourist attraction|places of interest well worth visiting enough to satisfy all tastes. There is the ancient city of York which has been inhabited since the times of the Romans, Torquay (referred to as the English Riviera) and Liverpool (2008’s European City of Culture). One of the most interesting, and famous, places to spend some time in is London the capital city of the U. K.

London is an astounding destination to visit, maybe for just a weekend or, hopefully for longer. You would be surprised at how many folk who reside in England who have failed to visit London, this is especially surprising when you are mindful of the fact it is usually top of most visitors lists (of places they enjoyed most).

There are so many things to do and see in London that it is almost impossible to recall them all all in one go. Surprisingly one of the newest attractions in London also happens to be one of the most popular - The London Eye. Another popular attraction nearby to the London Eye is Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. However, one place which must not be missed is Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is England’s most famous Royal residence, maybe because it is home to Queen Elizabeth II of England. The Palace is is placed right in the very heart of London which makes it an important focus for visitors. The daily pageant of ‘Changing of the Guard’ is fascinating to see and amazingly English.

Buckingham Palace was originally known as Buckingham House. It was originally a large townhouse, constructed in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. It is actually the townhouse which forms the main core of the palace as we are familiar with today.

Throughout the next seventy five years Buckingham House was extended with the construction of three wings forming a central courtyard. The main architects responsible for these additions were John Nash and Edward Blore. It was also John Nash who was responsible for the interior design of the monumental staterooms.

The widely known architect Aston Webb was responsible for the building of the principal facade of Buckingham Palace which, in 1912, he re-designed. Webb in association with Sir Thomas Brock (the sculptor) were the winners of a competition to design a memorial to Queen Victoria. This memorial is still standing today.

The Queen has a few other royal residences other than Buckingham Palace. Annually the Queen stays, at Sandringham House in Norfolk, during the Christmas season. Sandringham House is one of the Queen’s private royal residences.

A further private residence is Balmoral Castle, situated in Royal Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth was in Balmoral Castle when she was told about the tragic accident involving Diana (the ex-wife of Prince Charles).

If you would like to take a vacation in England you may be surprised to hear that it is possible to find cheap hotels in London without any great difficulty, on the other hand you may want to reside in more luxurious surroundings and the small selection of boutique hotels in London should be more than satisfactory.

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