British Tourist Attractions: Difference between revisions

You've probably heard of these.

* The Palace of Westminster- aka The Houses of Parliament. To get a tour of this, you either have to go during the recess or get a tour via an MP's office. The place has literally thousands of metres of corridors. The most famous part of this and one that's part of British culture (the New Year is shown by it on TV) is the Clock Tower, home to the [[Westminster Chimes]] and Big Ben; which is the name of the hour bell, ''not'' the whole tower. Big Ben has a distinctive "twang", thanks to cracks in the bell, caused by it being struck by a hammer that was above the recommended weight. As such, it now sounds a slightly flat E note.

** Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens are crowned just to the west of the Palace (and thanks to the proximity and similarity of names, people tend to think that they're in the same building). It contains the tombs of numerous great Britons, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and Lord Byron.

** Since this is a Royal Palace, it's illegal for commoners to die inside - if they did, they would be entitled to a state funeral, or so it is said. In the event someone does break this law, their death is reported as taking place at the nearby St. Thomas' Hospital.

* [[Alton Towers]] -- with eight roller coasters, it's considered the top UK theme park. Its theme tune, used in many advertising campaigns and in the park (including a version done by "cavemen") is Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall of the Mountain King".

** The Pleasure Beach, Blackpool is considered to be Britain's top ''amusement'' park -- despite being far more compact than Alton Towers, it has more and better coasters, including the Grand National (Europe's only Möbius-loop coaster, and said to be one of only three remaining) and the Big One (when it opened in 1994, it was for a while the world's tallest). It also has ''the'' Roller Coaster -- there were of course gravity rides before this one, but this was the first ever to be given that exact name. Some even rate PBB the ''world'' number 1, ahead of Cedar Point in Ohio (though CP has one more coaster than PBB).

* London Zoo. Excellent aviary; the penguin pool is a good example of 1930's design.

* Windsor Castle. The home of the Royal Family outside London.

*** [http://robertarood.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/ripon-cathedral.jpg Ripon] is positively intimidating (that huge, dark echoing space) and in an otherwise nondescript market town

*** [http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CBU/Coventry/Coventry_New_Cathedral.JPG Coventry] is the most modern (built to replace [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/images/2006/03/02/old_cov_cathedral_ruins_380x280.jpg one destroyed in World War II]). A popular urban legend states that British intelligence were apparently warned of the Coventry raid, but Churchill elected not to evacuate the city as doing so would have given away the fact that the German codes had been cracked. In fact, they were aware a big raid was coming but not of the target. The Cathedral is now the only attractive part of the city centre.

*** [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/images/2007/11/06/minster_long_view_gallery_450x321.jpg York Minster] is the largest medieval cathedral north of the Alps, and is often thought of as the queen of English Cathedrals. This is a subject of much friendly debate. The coronation scenes in ''Elizabeth'' were shot there.

*** [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Salisbury_Cathedral.jpg Salisbury] has the tallest spire.

*** Historical note: the Imperial War Museum building was originally the Royal Bethlehem Mental Hospital, before this relocated to Kent. This hospital is the origin of the word "bedlam".

* The Science Museum in London, and its regional offshoots, the National Railway Museum in York and the National Media Museum in nearby Bradford.

** In Sussex: the Bluebell Railway (opened when steam locomotives were still operating on Britain's main line, and with the second largest collection of steam locomotives in the UK).

** In Somerset: the West Somerset Railway.

 

''Tall Buildings''

* 30 St Mary Axe, more commonly known as The Gherkin is a cylindrical shade that bulges in the middle and has a dome at the top, kinda looks like a Gherkin if you squint and you often see 180-metre-tall glass Gherkins. There is a restaurant on the 38th floor.

** It also has been noted to [[Freud Was Right|look like a gigantic phallus]].

* The Shard of Glass is London's newest and tallest tower. Located next to London Bridge station, when completed it will be a tapering glass spire almost 1,000 feet tall.

* The Lloyds Building, home of the venerable insurance syndicate Lloyds of London, is ''inside out'' - a masterpice of Modernist architecture, though not to everyone's taste. The interior is also impressive, but public access is limited for security reasons.

 

''Natural Beauty''