Buckingham Palace

This is a photograph of the Buckingham Palace, the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality.

This is the principal façade, the East Front; originally constructed by Edward Blore and completed in 1850. It acquired its present appearance following a remodelling, in 1913, by Sir Aston Webb. 

(I haven’t uploaded a picture of me because I've never been to any English speaking country.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace

The Crooked Spire Church in Chesterfield

Its ponderous steeple, pillared in the sky

Rises with twist in pyramidal form,

And threatens danger to the timid eye

That climbs in wonder.

Samuel Bromley 1822

Although I have never actually stopped to take a picture in front of this peculiar church it is the first monument that drew my attention when I first arrived in the UK.  Soon after that I found out that there is a very interesting story behind the construction of this church and that the spire was not part of the initial design.

The construction of the church of St Mary and All Saints, the world famous Crooked Spire Church at Chesterfield, began in the late 13^th Century and was finished around 1360. It is the largest church in Derbyshire and its unusual Spire stands 228 feet from the ground and leans 9 feet 5 inches from its true centre. This was not the original design of the church but only the result of an error. The Spire was ‘twisted’ when unseasoned wood was used during its construction with 32 tons of lead tiles placed on top and as the timber dried out the weight of the lead twisted the spire.

As the spire was being built at the time of the Black Death in 1349, a theory has been put forward that the original craftsmen may have died. As a result, less experienced men completed the job and they made the mistake of using green timber. There is also a lack of cross bracing in the structure.

There are of course other controversial versions of how the twist was caused and the Devil figures in the most popular version although there are several variations on this theme.

One version is that a blacksmith from the nearby village made a poor job of shoeing the Devil who, lashing out in agony as he passed over Chesterfield, gave the spire a violent kick.

Another claims the Devil was resting on the spire when a whiff of incense from below made him sneeze, and as he had his tail wrapped tightly round the spire at the time this caused it to twist.

A controversial version brings the virtue of the local ladies in to question as it says that whilst resting on the spire the Devil twisted round in surprise because the bride was a virgin.

An even more slanderous version says that the spire twisted when a virgin married in the church but will straighten when another one does.

On 22^nd December, 1961 a fire broke out in the North Transept and flames swept through the building threatening the spire. It took two hours to get the blaze under control and the cost of the damage came to ₤30,000.

The Parish Church of St Mary and All Saints is a Grade I listed building and the spire is open to the public most days (except Sundays and Good Friday) and can be climbed part way up. The views from the top of the tower on a clear day stretch for miles. The spire, which is used as a symbol of Chesterfield, can often be seen from the surrounding hill poking out of a sea of mist, on a winter’s morning.  

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych...

There's a town in the isle of Anglesey (North Wales) whose size is inversely proportional to the length of its name:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

This town, usually known as Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll, has the longest name place in Europe, and is the second longest name in the world, following the isle of Taumata in New Zeland.

Depite this being a rather small town, its index of population is one of the five highest in the island (According to the census of 2001, over 3,000 people) and more than the 76% of them, are fluent in Welsh. 

The peculiarity of this little town's long name has caught the attention of many tourists and curious over the years, who come to visit it and can't leave without taking a picture near a sign with the name on it, usually the one at the train station, the first one they encounter.

The translation of the name from Welsh, is as it follows:

Llanfair - pwll - gwyngyll - goger - y chwyrndrobwll - llantysilio - [a]g og ogoch

[St] Mary's church - [in] the hollow - of the white hazel - near - to the rapid whirlpool - [and] the church of Llantysilio - of the red cave

Learning how to pronounce it can be very hard. Here is a musical video that makes it a little bit easier:



Weblography:
+ Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych... The longest URL on the Web!
+ Wikipedia "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll"

This is me in Ireland. These are the famous Cliffs of Moher. The landscape is extremely breathtaking. The first time I gazed at it I was really impressed, I was rendered absolutely speechless. I had never seen such a stunning view. I was very lucky because of the weather we enjoyed that same day. It was a sunny day, the air was fresh and we could see a really clear sky. My two cousins and I had a nice day and took pleasure in the immensity of the Cliffs of Moher. Everybody should contemplate the magnificence of the landscape and get the opportunity to breathe pure air. 

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

The Cliffs of Moher are one of Ireland's top Visitor attractions and are a designated UNESCO Geo Park. The Cliffs are 214m high at the highest point and range for 8 kilometres over the Atlantic Ocean on the western seaboard of County Clare. The Cliffs of Moher take their name from a ruined promontory fort “Mothar” which was demolished during the Napoleonic wars to make room for a signal tower.

O'Brien's Tower stands proudly on a headland of the majestic Cliffs commanding views south towards Hags Head and north towards Doolin. The Tower was built in 1835 by Cornelius O' Brien, a descendant of Brian Boru. 

The Cliffs of Moher are home to one of the major colonies of cliff nesting seabirds in Ireland: we can find Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Choughs or the Common gulls.

WEBLOGRAPHY

http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/TheCliffs.aspx

http://www.myguideireland.com/the-cliffs-of-moher

http://www.cliffs-moher.com/birds.php 

A VIDEO ABOUT THE CLIFFS OF MOHER
I would also like to show you this video from youtube:

The WIndsor Crooked House

This is me, at a very original and famous cafe at Windsor. It's the Windsor Crooked House. You can't appreciate it very well, but the house is crooked to one side. You can find this cafe at Windsor, where the Queen has a castle.I thought it would be a different kind of monument to show you.

Trafalgar Square

This is me and a friend (and many other turists) at Trafalgar Square in 2008. I went there with my friends when I was in 4th ESO. It was a wonderful experience. On the one hand, it was the first time that I went abroad and I was very excited. On the other hand, I was travelling with my friends (and not with my parents) so it was unforgettable. I have decided to upload this photograph because this sculpture really impressed me. I have added some information about the Trafalgar Square that it is realted to our subject.

Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom built around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. It is in the borough of the City of Westminster. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. 

The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars over France. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square".

In the 1820s, George IV engaged the architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845.

BIOBLIOGRAPHY

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square

York City Walls

This is me in York City Walls.

York Minster

This is me at York Minster in April 2012.

York Minster is a cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by a dean and chapter under theDean of York. The formal title of York Minster is "The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York".[1] The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.[1] Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.[2]

York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 158 metres (518 ft) long and each of its three towers are 60 metres (200 ft) high. The choir has an interior height of 31 metres (102 ft).


8 WONDERS OF YORK MINSTER

Chapter House

The Quire

The Five Sisters Window

The Kings Screen

The Old Palace

The Great West Window

The Nave

Astronomical Clock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster
http://www.yorkminster.org/home.html

Lincoln Memorial

Hello everyone,

I’ve never been to any English speaking country, but I would like to travel to the USA. One of the first places that I would like to visit is the Lincoln Memorial, not only because it is visually spectacular but because of its symbolic importance.

The Lincoln Memorial is the monument honoring Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the USA. It is located at the West end of the National Mall in Washington D.C.

One of the facts that made Lincoln one of the most important presidents in the history of America was the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War between the States of the Union and the Confederate States. Six days after the Civil War ended, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by a Confederate spy who had attended a speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks.

Two years later the Congress created the Lincoln Monument Association, whose main purpose was to build a memorial honoring one of the most extraordinary presidents of their short history. In 1914, the architect Henry Bacon began the construction of a monument based on a Greek temple with 36 Doric columns representing the 36 states of the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death. Right above, inscribed on the frieze, we can still see the names of the 50 American States. In two of the internal walls of the memorial we can find two of Lincoln’s most famous speeches, while in the center we can appreciate the majestic statue of Lincoln. Above Lincoln’s head
stands the epitaph:

IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

Due to the essential legacy of Abraham Lincoln, his memorial has become a symbol, especially for the American Civil Rights Movement. In fact, in one of the steps that lead to the image of the president we can still see the place from which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech “I have a dream”.

Hello everyone!

I 've never been to any english speaking country but I'd love to travel through the USA. On my way I would make a stop in San Francisco to visit Alcatraz Island. The island is known for its notorious prison. All problematic criminals that caused trouble in other prisons were sent there. It's said that due to its isolation nobody ever succeeded in escaping Alcatraz. They all failed or died trying. Later, the prison had to close because of erosion. Now Alcatraz is a national recreation area. Furthermore it contains the oldest lighthouse on the westcoast!

ME IN ANFIELD ROAD

This is me and my brother in Anfield Road, the football stadium of Liverpool F.C. with a seating capacity of 45,000.

I was there with my brother in two summers ago. It is a new-built stadium and it's really beautiful. We were there to watch a football match, Liverpool vs Valencia (our team). It is located in Liverpool, Merseyside.

If you love football, this is one of the stadiums you should visit one time at least.

Ernesto Maravilla Frías

Hi everyone,

I haven't been to the UK yet, but I hope I can go next year. Each one of us has some ideas about what they want to visit in the country they will go, but I want to see firstly something that is a bit unusual. Of course I want to see all the touristy sites that the country offers, but I'm really dying to see the great shop Harrods in London.

The Harrods motto is Omnia Omnibus Ubique—All Things for All People, Everywhere. Several of its departments, including the seasonal Christmas department and the Food Hall, are world famous.

The store occupies 20,000 m² site and has 90,000 m² of selling space in over 330 departments.

Stonehenge

Hi everyone!

This is a picture of me in front of the famous monument of Stonehenge. The picture was taken two years ago when I spent my holiday in England.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 2.0 miles (3.2 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. It is one of the most famous sites in the world.

Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It is at the centre of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England.

The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury Henge monument. It is a national legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Stonehenge is a wonderful place; I recommend that all of you visit it because it is a place surrounded by lots of mysteries and legends.

Lucía Català

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge

Trinity College Dublin

Hi everyone!

These are some pictures of me and a group of friends on our trip in Ireland in 2006.
The buildings you can see behind us belong to the Trinity College of Dublin.

It was founded in 1592, and it is Ireland's oldest university. Before this year, its buildings constituted an Augustinian monastery.

The college was set to strengthen the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and since its foundation there were lots of restrictions on the membership of college: women were first admitted as full members in 1904.

Its area occupies 190,000 with playing fields and wide esplanades. I went there in July and therefore academic life was not so busy, but I would like to visit it again in winter, to see the snowed gardens!

Windsor Castle

Hello everyone!

This is me in front of the Round Tower in Windsor Castle. The photo was taken by my grandmother this summer when we visited the city.

Windsor castle is a medieval castle that was built by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest. Nowadays, it is a royal residence, extremely associated with the British royal family because when Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, she decided to make Windsor her principal weekend retreat, so she lives in Buckingham Palace during the week and in the State apartments in Windsor during the weekend.

The castle is surrounded by a lot of shops, even an old central station that has been remodeled into a shopping mall.

I enjoyed a lot the visit to the castle and its surroundings and one of the most curious things was that the castle survived a long and terrible fire in 1992. After this, the castle was restored in five years.

I recommend that all of you visit Windsor because it is a lovely place surrounded by many years of history.

Ana Esteve González

Molly Malone

Hi everyone,

This is a picture of Molly Malone's figure in Grafton street, Dublin. The statue pays tribute to a popular song also titled "Molly Malone" which has become the unoficial anthem of Dublin. The song talks about Molly, a beautiful fishmonger who died young due to a fever. There is no evidence of the existence of a real Molly Malone in the 17th century, but the fame of the song is so, that they have even built this statue.

As you can see, I don't appear in the picture, but I was in Dublin in 2007 and I enjoyed the visit very much, I found the city very nice, interesting and full of culture and art.

Rut Villar

Hello everyone!

This is a rather funny picture of me and some friends on Brighton Beach, right next to the Brighton Pier (I am the third from the left). We were there for a 3-day school trip to England, during which we all stayed at host families. We saw most of the important buildings and sites during that trip, but this picture is the only suitable one that I could find. I guess we only took silly pictures.

Brighton Beach is England’s most famous beach, and it is visited by many tourists. However, you shouldn’t go there to sunbathe. Brighton Beach doesn’t have sand but pebbles, and of course the weather isn’t all that great. But there are loads of restaurants, bars, clubs and shops right at the beachfront for you to visit, and also the main touristic attraction: the Brighton Pier.

The Brighton Pier (also called Palace Pier) is a 524 metres long pleasure pier, with amusement halls, attractions, bars and restaurants in which you can get the famous fish and chips. I also included a picture of the Pier from the internet so you can see what it looks like.

Nele De Pauw

The University Church of St.Mary, Oxford

This picture was taken this summer in Oxford and represents The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, seen from Radcliffe Square.

The church holds a special place in the history of Oxford University, being the largest Oxford´s parish churches and the centre from which the university grew. The building was originally built in the 13th century and it has seen many historical events and sermons over the centuries - it was the site of the trial of the “Oxford Martyr's”.

For me, the most interesting part of the building is the tower and I must say that I was stunned by its beauty and by the views provided by it (Radcliffe Square, Brasenose College and All Souls College).

Rebeca Firu

Hello everyone!

This is me last winter.
I was in Cardiff Castle and the building that you can appreciate behind me in the picture is known as "the Norman keep".

Cardiff Castle is one of Wales' leading heritage monuments and it is considered to be of international significance. During 2000 years of history, the Castle has been a Roman military garrison, a Norman stronghold and it was transformed into a gothic fairytale fantasy in Victorian times.

The Norman keep was built after the Norman conquest, re-using the site of a Roman fort, dividing the site into inner and outer wards and those were separated by a huge stone wall. At first sight, it seems to be a rude building but, once you go into it, you're trapped by its fairytale atmosphere. Its worth visiting it!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Castle

Canterbury Cathedral

Hello!

This is a photograph from the cathedral of Canterbury. It has been traditionally one of the most important religious centres of UK. In the Middle Ages the cathedral was a pilgrimage place and an economic centre (it is nowadays a World Heritage Site).

It was built in a Romanesque and Gothic style with three different towers (the highest of 72 metres). The monument is intimately related with the history of England, its foundations date from the year 597 A.D.

We have to highlight (between all the facts that happened in the monument) the murder of the archbishop Thomas Becket by the knights of the King Henry II in 1170. The King had a big rivalry on him and he ordered his death.

The cathedral is the main tourist point of the town, a small portion of peace in England that ha been the scenario for the book Canterbury Tales from Chaucer and other literary works.