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TRAVELLING
in LONDON
The tube is London's underground railway. A journey by tube
is quick and easy. But you do not see very much. The trains run
under the streets. You will find free maps of the tube at the
tube stations.
Some
of the tube lines are very old. The Metropolitan line is the
oldest in the world. It opened in 1863. A new part of the
Piccadilly line opened in 1977. lt runs from Heathrow -
London's largest airport - to the centre of London. The
Jubilee tube line was opened in 1979.
The Docklands Light Railway is the newest railway line in London.
The trains have no drivers. The newest part of this line opened
in 1991.
You see much more of London from a bus. From the top of a red
London bus, you get a good view of the city.
London Transport has special buses for tourists. A tourist bus
takes visitors to some of the famous places in London. The
tourist buses leave from Piccadilly Circus, Victoria Station or
Marble Arch.
Visit an information centre to find out about special travel
tickets to use on the tube and on the buses. You will find
a full printable tube map in
Chapter 4 and extra
details of the information centres in
Chapter
5.
The buses and the tube are very busy in the morning between
eight o'clock and ten o'clock. They are also busy in the evening
between five o'clock and half past six. It is better not no
travel at these times.
There are lots of taxis in London. Taxi drivers are usually
friendly and helpful.
SHOPPING
Oxford
Street is London's main shopping centre. Walk along Oxford
Street, from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus. You will pass
hundreds of shops.
You
can buy clothes, shoes and food in the larger stores: Selfridges, John
Lewis, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer. Or you
can shop in the small boutiques.
People
come from all over the world to shop in London. They go to
Oxford Street, Bond Street and Covent Garden.
The best known London store is not in Oxford Street. lt is Harrods
in Knightsbridge. You can buy anything in Harrods - from
a pin to an elephant!
There
are also hundreds of open-air markets in London. They sell
all kinds of things: vegetables, clothes, records, furniture.
The two best known markets are in Petticoat Lane and in
Portobello Road.
Petticoat
Lane is on the east side of London, near Liverpool Street
station. The market is open on Sundays. You can buy anything
there. Some of the things are very cheap. But not many things
are both good and cheap!
Portobello
Road market is in west London. You can get there by tube. The
nearest tube stations are Notting Hill Gate and Ladbroke Grove.
The market is very busy on Saturday. You will find old furniture
and antiques on many of the stalls in Portobello Road.
LONDON
AT NIGHT
Pubs
There are more than seven thousand pubs in London!
Some are open from 11 o'clock in the morning until 11 o'clock at
night.
Every pub sells beer and many other drinks. You can eat in most
pubs.
Pubs are friendly places. You can talk to people or play games.
Or you can listen to music.
There are lots of famous pubs in London. Many of the oldest pubs
are in the east of the city. One of them is the Olde Wine
Shades near London Bridge. It is three hundred years old.
Then there is The Grapes in Marlow Steet, beside the
River Thames. Charles Dcikens often drank in this pub. Another
well-known pub, The Prospect of Whitby, is not far away.
Theatres
and Cinemas
Most
theatres and cinemas in London are in the West End. The nearest
tube stations are Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. You
can also go to the National Theatre, or the Barbican Centre in
The City.
You
can see all kinds of plays in London's theatres. You can watch
musicals, comedies and plays by modem writers.
There
are some unusual theatres in London. In the summer, there is an
open-air theatre in Regent's Park. You can watch
Shakespearean plays there. New films in Britain are generally
shown first in the West End cinemas.
Buy
an evening newspaper or an entertainments guide to find out what
is on.
Restaurants
Soho
is a district in the West End. It is near the theatres and the
cinemas. Soho is full of foreign restaurants, cafés, shops and
nightclubs. People go to the theatre in the West End. Then they
eat in a Soho restaurant.
Let's take Gerrard Street for example. Nearly every
building in Gerrard Street is a Chinese restaurant. Chinese food
is usually good and quite cheap. French and Italian food is
usually more expensive.
You
can eat many kinds of food in London's West End. You can go to
Caribbean, German, Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, Indian, Japanese,
Russian or African restaurants. Many young people enjoy eating
at hamburger restaurants.
Source:
Philip Prowse (Heinemann) |
