London transport

The big cities such as London have to have the elaborate system of transport, because there are a lot of cars and also many people who have to move from one place to other. When we think about London’s transport, there are more images that cross our minds, for example: London’s black taxis, typical London double-deckers and the London underground, which is one of the oldest subway systems in the world. The public transport network in London is one of the most expensive in the world.
Because London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, a total of 7 billion pounds will be spent on refurbishing and expanding the city’s links, mainly on the London Underground. By 2013, a new service called Crossrail is due to open. A Cross River Tram is also in planning. It will depart from the southern suburbs, cross the River Thames, go through the City London, and continue its journey to the northern suburbs. It is said that it will be the world’s longest tram route.
Although London transport has a very high level, they want to still improve it.

Tower Bridge

The capital of England, London, has a lot of famous landmarks. Surely, one of the most distinctive is the gothic Tower Bridge. But do you know why is has this name? Or how old it is?

Some people suppose that the Tower Bridge has name according to the Tower of London, which is situated near this bridge. The name is not for this but for its two distinctive towers. The reason for the two towers is because at the time it was built London was still very important port. The lowest bridge over the Thames was originally London Bridge and for a long time they did’t build one further down because it would have caused problems for shipping. But there was so much traffic that London Bridge could’t cope with it. That is why they decided to build one that would open. The bridge looks very old, but it was completed in 1894.
Nowadays the metal parts are painted blue, but originally they were chocolate brown. In 1977 they became a patriotic red, white and blue as part of the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. There is also a museum in the bridge, which opened in 1982.
The central part was designed to be raised so that ships could pass through easily.
In my view the Tower Bridge belongs between the most interesting memories in London and I recommend everyone for see it.

Colorado

Colorado became the 38th US state on August 1, 1876. This country is a vast territory with the numerous natural wonders of the Rocky Mountains as well as unique Anasazi dwellings in Mesa Verde. I have chosen this American country, because there is the beautiful nature which is connected with the great cities. The capital is Denver. There is the largest airport in U.S., which covers 88 square km. Denver is nicknamed the “Mile High Manhattan”. The downtown has a lot to offer. The main street, the 16th Street Mall, provides great opportunities for shopping and it is the heart of Denver’s business, culture and so on. The Denver Art Museum owns 30000 art objects, which including the world’s collection of Native American artwork. The historic museum tells story about miners, who have looked for gold or silver, about cowboys and Indians, who have lived there many year ago. No far from museums is the US Mint. There is The Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado. The famous ski resort of Aspen is in the Rocky Mountains. Many celebrities spend their winter holidays in there. But Aspen is famous for one more thing – the largest silver nugget in North America was unearthed here. Its weight was 828 kilograms. This country conceals a lot of natural wonderments.

Canterbury cathedral

Canterbury cathedral is one of the most illustrious examples of Gothic architecture in Britain. It is the administrative centre of the Church of England. The Cathedral has been the seat of an archbishop since it was founded in 597. In this year St. Augustine was sent from Rome to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He was its first archbishop. There have been almost 600 British archbishops since the time of St. Augustine.
Of the original building was destroyed by fire in 1067 and rebuilt in the Normal style. The present appearance of the interior is largely the work of William of Sens, who designed the choir and apse. Many other artists help to create the Canterbury cathedral and artistic works in this cathedral. Today, it welcomes a lot of people, mainly students from universities and colleges, who have visited daily choral worship. The cathedral is also the place of musical and other events which attracting visitors from all the corners of the world.

Parks of London

The Royal Parks of London included St James’s Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Regent’s Park. These parks create green heart of central town of England. Visitors relax listening to bands that play beside lakes. There are same cafes and art galleries.

In Kensington Gardens, there is the Albert Memorial, which was erected as a monument to Queen Victoria’s beloved husband.
The Long Water and the Serpentine separate Kensington Gardens from Hyde Park. They prove the ideal spot for water activities as well as for local wildlife.
There is the Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. It is a place, where you can proclaim your opinions on public, religious and political issues.
Further west, Bushy Park and Richmond Park provide delightful green and floral areas.
Across the Thames from there is Syon Park, the country’s first national gardening centre.
London’s inhabitants are used to relax in parks. Every sunny day we can see a lot of people lying on the grass or children playing there.

The Czech Republic

The Informations:
Capital city: Prague
Official language: Czech
Independence: January 1, 1993
Accession to EU: May 1, 2004
Area: 78 866 km2
Population: 10280968
Currency: Czech koruna

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe and a member state of the European Union. The country has borders with Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. The country is composed of two entire historic regions, Bohemia and Moravia. The capital and the largest city is the historic city of Prague. This week, the square of this town was watched by hundreds people, because the president of the USA, Barack Obama, declaimed about world economic crisis there.
The Czech Republic is a very popular tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. There are several centres of tourist activity, but the historic city of Prague is the primary attraction. Spa towns such as Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lázne are also particularly popular holiday destinations. There are the many castles and chateaux, for example: Karlstejn, Konopište and Český Krumlov.
Since Prague’s foundation, the town has played a principal role in the history of the nation, the country and Europe. The Lesser Town, Prague Castle and the Old and New Towns belongs between the most frequent attended by visitors. The historic centre spreading over 866 hectares was enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage in 1992.

Cambridge

Cambridge lies 96 kilometres north of London. Many tourists visit this town each year to see historic university. The first mention of Cambridge University was in 1209. Some Oxford students moved to Cambridge and laid foundations of England’s second university. The first college, Peterhouse, was founded in 1284. The early colleges were small, humble institutions, which provided a general education.
Today, Cambridge University is made up 31 colleges, but only thee are for women. Each college is an independent institution with its own property and income. A college is not only the place where students learn, it is also the place where they live, eat and socialise. It is something different from what we experience in Slovakia.
It is possible to walk round some of the colleges. Many of them however, charge admission to tourists. The admissions are forbidden in May, because students have exams during this month.
The most famous building in Cambridge is King’s College Chapel. The internal fan vault stone ceiling is the largest in the world.
Cambridge has the problems with traffic and parking, bicycles are a serious form of transport. This fact can be unusual for you.

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. It is a place for state occasions and royal entertaining and popular tourist attraction. Few people know that the original name was Buckingham House and the royal family still uses the nickname “Buck house”. It became the official royal palace of the British monarch, when Queen Victoria ascend the throne in 1837.

The principal rooms of the Palace are at the rear of the Palace. This complex includes the Music Room, Picture Gallery, which is 50 metres long, with works by many famous painters. Other rooms are the Throne Room, the Green Drawing Room and the Guard Room, which contains a white marble statue of Prince Albert. These formal rooms are used only for ceremonial and official entertaining. The Buckingham Palace Gardens are the largest private gardens in London. Garden parties are organized every year, and more than 9000 people attend this event. The palace is the work place of 450 people.
Buckingham palace is the weekday home of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Each summer, in the August and September, the West Wing of the Palace is opened to the public.

Wales

To the west of England lies a small, secret country called Wales. The area of Wales 20 764 square kilometers and has a population of 3 million. The capital is Cardiff. This country is not very famous between the Slovak people and that is why I write some information about this amazing country for me. Wales is a part of the United Kingdom. It is a land of green and grey, because there are green fields, valleys and grey mountains, sky and so on.

Wales has maintained its unique culture and strong national identity, particularly its language. Welsh is a Celtic language, very different from English. It is one of the oldest languages in Europe. In nineteenth century the number of Welsh speakers declined. The British government made English the official language.
A tradition of storytelling and poetry continues today. Every year the festival of music, poetry and drama “eisteddfods” is realized. It is a meeting of poets and singers who take part in competitions. The Welsh people like traditions, their culture and they are proud that they live in this country.
The flag of Wales, with red dragon is one of the oldest in the world. The patron saint of Wales is St David. The leek is another symbol of Wales. According to legend, St David ordered his soldiers to give them on helmets before the Welsh won in the battle against the Saxons.

The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a national symbol of freedom for the United States. It was given to the Americans in 1866 as a gift from France. It had supported the American Revolution. Liberty’s crown has seven continents of the world. Liberty’s left arm holds a tablet with “JULY IV MDCCLXX” written on it. The Declaration of Independence was signed in this day.

There were a lot of problem with a location of the Liberty. The American government did not have enough money to build the pedestal. One American poet wrote a poem called “The New Colossus” in 1883 about the Statue of Liberty, which helped to raise 100000 dollars for the pedestal. The final lines of this poem were placed on a tablet on the pedestal.
In 1924, the Statue of Liberty became a national symbol of peace and liberty. After the several years Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island, and the American Museum of Immigration was installed at the statue’s base.
The Status of Liberty has been the symbol of hopes and dreams for immigrants from around the world arriving to the USA. Nowadays, thousands tourists visit this historical monument every year and it belongs between the most popular tourist attraction in the world.

Traveling - amusement or necessity?

The main task of traveling is changed. In the past the most of people traveling for pleasure and they enjoyed. Nowadays people live very fast and the movement belongs between basic needs. But traveling is still a great hobby for a lot of people. Every summer you can see thousands people waiting at bus or railway stations or at airports for the means of transport that will them to place of their summer holiday. These people travel for pleasure and amusement. Traveling by train was quite common in the past, but with the rapid development of the car industry it became partly neglected. In my opinion traveling by train have a lot of advantages. If you travel at night you can sleep in a sleeper. If you are hungry, you may have a meal in a dinning- car. Nowadays traveling by plane has become more and more popular. It is the fastest and the safest way to travel according to statistics.

A lot of people travel on business every day. People go to work, to school and they often have to passed many kilometers from their house to place of working. The traveling is necessity for these people.

London

London is a capital of the United Kingdom. It has a long history and it is a popular tourist destination in Britain. London is a very important industrial and agricultural centre.

It can be divided into four principal parts: the City of London, the City of Westminster, the East End and the West End.

The City of London is only small area known as the Square Mile, which was the original settlement. There are a lot of historic monuments, for example: the Monument, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower Bridge, the Museum of London, the Tower and so on.
In 1666 many important buildings were completely destroyed in the Great Fire. The Monument is a memory of this tragedy. Who are interested in learning about London’s history? You can visit the Museum of London. There are the chronological displays of costumes and paintings. The Tower served as a fortress, a royal palace. In the past it was a famous prison where many great figures of the British history were imprisoned. Nowadays it serves as a museum. There is a famous crown jewels. The Tower is guarded by the “Beefeaters”, who are dressed in their traditional uniforms.

Washington

Washington, DC became the capital of the USA in 1800. It covers an area of around 110 square kilometers and nowadays has about the same population as Bratislava.
There are many federal building, including the FBI and Pentagon. Washington is very popular tourist place. Almost twenty million visitors come here each year.
Washington offers a lot of galleries and museums. The most renowned is the Smithsonian Institution. There is the US’s national collection of everything on the Earth. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. There are over 100 million books.
In my opinion the most famous building in Washington is the White House. It is the official residence of the U.S. presidents. It includes the Executive Residence, the West Wing and the East Wing. The famous Oval Office is located in the West Wing. Few people know that small parts of the house are built from white stone, which is found on the Croatian island. Nowadays the first African-American president Barack Abama with his family lives there. The White House is amazing, because it is the only residence of a head of state in the world that is open the public, free of charge. Visitors can see all 132 rooms.

Greenwich

Greenwich is set in park by the River Thames. It includes some of London’s most noble buildings, including the Queen’s House, the Royal Observatory and the Wren’s Royal Collage.

The old Royal Observatory in Greenwich was founded by Charles II in 1675. Nowadays there is a museum in Flamsteed house. If you go there, you will have the impression that Flamsteed and his wife still live there. There is food on the table, clothes and so on. The telescopes and time- measuring instruments are displayed there. The red ball on top of the tower still drops down at 1 P.M. each day. It allows Thames navigators to set their chronometers. The Gate clock measures Greenwich Mean Time. This time is standard time, which is set all round the world. The Greenwich Meridian is marked by a brass strip crossing the Observatory courtyard. This line divides the Earth between eastern and western hemispheres. If you stand on this line, you will be on both hemispheres in the same time.

The Thames Flood Barrier is s remarkable piece of engineering. This barrier protected London from being flooded. Ships pass between the gates in normal conditions. If the Thames surges, the protective barrier will block the river within 30 minutes.

Canada

Canada is situated on the north of the North America. There are tree oceans around this country, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Artic Ocean.

The area of Canada is almost 10 million square kilometers and has a population of 29 million. The capital is Ottawa and other important cities are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. 75% of the population lives within 300 km of the USA border.
Canada is a federation, which compare ten provinces and tree territories. It is constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is a head of state. The official languages are English and French. The national symbol of the country is the maple leaf, which is on the national flag.
Canada is a country with very high standard of living. The country is particularly advanced in the areas of health, education and human rights.
There are a lot of lakes and rivers, for example: the Mackenzie River, the Great Slave Lake, the Ontario and so on. The Niagara Falls is one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon in Canada.

New Zealand

New Zealand’s population is only four million in a country with an area of over 250000 square kilometers. Almost one million live on the larger South Island. Around 90% of the population is from Europe. The three main cities are Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The nature is very diversity and picturesque. There are a lot of unique natural phenomenons, for example: snow- capped mountain peaks, bubbling mud pools, geysers, volcanoes, glaciers, forests, sunny beaches and the sea.
Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand. It is also called the “City of sails”, because it has more boats than any other city. Water sports are very popular here. If you want to try kayaking, water skiing, diving or windsurfing this seaside resort is the best for us. Island volcanoes and wildlife reserves are great for sailing and cruising.
The Bay of Islands is one of the most beautiful regions in the country. The weather is warm and the sky is blue most of the time in this region. There is something for everyone from outdoor activities.
In my opinion the country like New Zealand is very interesting for tourists from Europe, because this country is different in every aspect.

HAWAII

Hawaii is a group of Polynesian islands and it is located around 3200 km from the West Coast, in the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is the fiftieth state of USA with 1.2 million people. This archipelago was uninhabited for a long time. The first residents were Polynesians, which settled colonize about 1500 years ago.

Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island has been remembered since World War II. The Pacific fleet has been attacked by Japan on December 7, in 1941. Hawaii became the last and youngest US state in 1959.
Hawaii can boast of quite a few superlatives. An average annual rainfall of 1170cm. Lanai island is home of the largest pineapple plantation in the world.

The Hawaiian islands are definitely a tourist and nature lovers’ paradise. Most tourists come to Oahu, mainly to the capital, Honolulu and its famous Waikiki Beach. The Maui Island is also famous for its natural beauty and outdoor sports: windsurfing, diving, sailing and so on.
The funny detail of Hawaii is that the Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters: EIOUHKLMNPW. “Aloha” means both “hello” and “goodbye”.

Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic. It is a seat of the President, government and parliament. This city is the political, cultural and economic centre of country. Bratislava is situated near the Australian and Hungarian border, this position is advantageous because of foreign business. The half a million inhabitants lives in the capital of Slovakia.

The history of Bratislava is very rich. This town was an important crossroads of trade routes. Every century has left here some historical and cultural monuments. Bratislava castle is the dominant building of the city. Nowadays, a lot of ceremonial and representative sessions are organized in this castle. The historical section of Slovak National Museum is also installed here. In the past there were a fortification formed by wall and four gateways. But only one of them, Michael’s Gateway, is preserved.

There are a lot of historical buildings, which are interested for Slovak and also foreign tourists, for example: Town Hall, Academia Istropolitana, St Martins Cathedral and so on.
But Bratislava is not only a historical city. Important national cultural, scientific and educational institutions are concentrated here: the Slovak National Theatre, the Slovak National Gallery, the Slovak Academy of Science as well as universities like the Slovak Technical University or University of Economies.

AUSTRALIA

Australia is surrounded by the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It is about 3000 kilometres southeast of mainland Asia. The name Australia comes from the Latin word australis, meaning southern.

The greatest population centre is Sydney, with a population of close to 4 million people. Other important city is Melbourne with a population of approximately 3.5 million people. The capital is Canberra.

Almost everybody lives in the big cities on the coast, because most of the country is desert and farmland. Farming is mainly sheep farming. There are probably seven sheep for every Australian. Surfing is very popular sport between people. It is part of beach scene, but it is not the main leisure sport. Because the weather’s is good, we’re an outdoor people. Bushwalking, fishing, horse riding, tennis, golf, sailing are all popular. There are a lot of spectacular places to see in Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest structure on the Earth made by living things. There is the desert and semi – desert area in the middle of the country. Kangaroos, koalas, platypuses and wombats are some of the animals that live in Australia.
The country was once a British colony, and most of the Australian people are British ancestry. When people moved to Australia from Great Britain, they took many British customs with them. For example, Australians drive on the left side of the road. A tea is a popular hot drink. Aborigines are the native Australians, but nowadays they make up about 1 per cent of the population.

Trnava

My second contribution is about a town in the heart of Europe, the name of which is Trnava. Trnava belongs to the most important towns in Slovak Republic. It is situated in the centre of Trnavas downs, 45 km far from the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. The first written mention about the town on crossing trade roads dates back to 1211. Trnava was the first free royal town in Slovakia. After this, Trnava has been changing from an agricultural town to a centre of production and trade.
Trnava university was established in 1635 and at this time Trnava became an important university town. Nowadays there are two other universities expect for Trnava university. In the past, there were also typical townwalls around Trnava, which protected the town and inhabitants who lived there. These townwalls have remained up to now.

Nowadays, Trnava is an important historical town and an industrial centre. There are a lot of historical monuments, for example the town tower on the square street. The Townhall is near to it. Trnava is a seat of 12 churchies. It is a main symbol of Trnava. That is why Trnava has been called "Little Rome". Trnava is a municipal town with about 70000 inhabitants.
Sports are very popular among people. The most favourite sport is football. In my view only few sports clubs have so many fans like Spartak Trnava.
I think that Trnava is an interesting place for your trip and I hope that it fulfil your expectations.