The London Eye

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames, in London, England. The entire structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres (394 ft).

It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually.

The London Eye was formally opened by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on 31 December 1999, although it was not opened to the public until 9 March 2000 because of technical problems. Since its opening, the Eye has become a major landmark and tourist attraction.

In January 2011, a lighting-up ceremony marked the start of a three-year deal between nuclear company EDF Energy and Merlin Entertainment. Merlin said EDF would help it reduce the London Eye's overall carbon footprint using its expertise as the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity.

                                        LONDON TRAVEL GUIDE: THE LONDON EYE

British cuisine
Celtic agriculture and animal breeding produced a wide variety of foodstuffs for indigenous Celts and Britons. Anglo-Saxon England developed meat and savoury herb stewing techniques before the practice became common in Europe. The Norman conquest introduced exotic spices into England in the Middle Ages. The British Empire facilitated a knowledge of India's elaborate food tradition of "strong, penetrating spices and herbs". Food rationing policies, put in place by the British government during wartime periods of the 20th century,are said to have been the stimulus for British cuisine's poor international reputation.Contrary to popular belief, people in southern England eat more garlic per head than the people of northern France.
British cuisine has traditionally been limited in its international recognition to the full breakfast and the Christmas dinner. Other famous British dishes include fish and chips, the Sunday roast, steak and kidney pie, and bangers and mash. British cuisine has many regional varieties within the broader categories of English, Scottish and Welsh cuisine. Each have developed their own regional or local dishes, many of which are geographically indicated foods such as Cornish pasties, the Yorkshire pudding, Arbroath Smokie, and Welsh cakes
                                                                                                        British cuisune is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom. British cuisine has been described as "unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavour, rather than disguise it."However, British cuisine has absorbed the cultural influence of those that have settled in Britain, producing hybrid dishes, such as the Anglo-Indian chicken tikka masala.

Economy

London generates approximately 20 per cent of the UK's GDP (or $446 billion in 2005); while the economy of the London metropolitan area—the largest in Europe—generates approximately 30 per cent of the UK's GDP (or an estimated $669 billion in 2005). London is one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world and vies with New York City as the most important location for international finance.

London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Around 325,000 people were employed in financial services in London until mid-2007. London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. Currently, over 85% (3.2 million) of the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Due to its prominent global role, London's economy has been affected by the late-2000s financial crisis. The City of London estimates that 70,000 jobs in finance will be cut within a year The City of London is home to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market.

Here are some pictures of urban transport.

Religion

London has centres of worship for a multitude of faiths. According to the 2001 Census, the largest religious groupings are Christians (58.2 per cent), followed by those of no religion (15.8 per cent), no response (8.7 per cent), Muslims (8.3 per cent), Hindus (4.1 per cent), Jews (2.1 per cent), Sikhs (1.5 per cent),Buddhists (0.8 per cent) and other (0.5 per cent). 

Many religions do not respect each other and there are conflicts between them.

Here a video of the pope that Muslims and Hindus asked to respect for the right to change religion.

VIDEO

sports

 England has a strong sporting heritage, and during the 19th century codified many sports that are now played around the world. Sports originating in England includeassociation football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, tennis, badminton, squash, rounders,hockey, boxing, snooker, billiards, darts, table tennis, bowls,netball, thoroughbred horseracing and fox hunting. It has helped the development of sailing and Formula One. Football is the most popular of these sports. The England national football team, whose home venue is Wembley Stadium, won the 1966 FIFA World Cup against the Germany national football team where they won it 4-2 in extra time helped by the fact that Geoff Hurst scored a hatrick. That was the year the country hosted the competition.At club level England is recognised by FIFA as the birth-place of club football, due to Sheffield FC founded in 1857 being the oldest club. The Football Association is the oldest of its kind, FA Cup and The Football League were the first cup and league competitions respectively. In the modern day the Premier League is the world's most lucrative football league and amongst the elite. The European Cup has been won by Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, whileArsenal, Chelsea and Leeds United have reached the final.

Climate

 It is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0 °C  in winter and not much higher than 32 °C  in summer. The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October.Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.

Info about the anthem

While England does not have an official national anthem, there are many songs which are considered to fill such a role. In most of the national sporting fixtures 'God Save The Queen' is used.
God save the Queen

The British National Anthem dates back to the eighteenth century.
'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century.
In September 1745 the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged 'God Save The King' for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly.
This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting monarchs with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established.
There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.
The words used today are those sung in 1745, substituting 'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung.
The words of the National Anthem are as follows:
God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.
Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen.

The British tune has been used in other countries. European visitors to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country possessing such a recognised musical symbol.
In total, around 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.

Toponomy

The England name  is derived from de old English name englaland , which means ¨Land of the Angles¨.  The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages. The Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of "England" to refer to the southern part of the island of Great Britain occurs in 897, and its modern spelling was first used in 1538.

National government,Local government,Status and Topography

London.

National government:

London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom, which is located around the Palace of Westminster. Many government departments are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall, including the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.

Local government:

The administration of London is formed of two tiers—a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GL

Status:

Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have city status and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are the ceremonial counties.[89] The current area of Greater London has incorporated areas that were once part of the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Topography:

Greater London covers an area of 1,583 square kilometres (611 sq mi), an area which had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,760 /sq mi). A larger area, referred to as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration covers an area of 8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi) has a population of 12,653,500 and a population density of 1,510 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,900 /sq mi).

Visit Big Ben

An interesting visit around of the Big Ben.

Callejeros in London
This is a reportage of Spanish people in London, they show interesting sites and places of the city.
Enjoy it.Callejeros in London

Presentation

Our group is created by: Adrian.P, Nagore, Claudia, Gonzalo and Pablo.

We're going to talk about England: there food, culture, celebrations, the people and we are also going to public photographs.