The nearest subway station to Westminster area are Waterloo station and Victoria station. All the landmarks such as Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Jewel Tower, Big Ben, London Eye, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham palace stand just in radius of 2 KM only and can be easily covered by walk.
Parliament is open only on Open on all Saturdays, Mondays 13.20 – 17.30 and better to do prior ticket booking. Westminster Abbey is open on all days except Sunday and before 3 PM. Tower is about 96 metres high and area is 12 Sq. Meter. The clock is wound by Parliaments clockmakers three times a week. Regular maintenance is done.
We started today with London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and last at Buckingham palace. It took about 7 hours to complete this visit comfortably. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for our turn in Queue at London Eye.
It is better to start this tour from Buckingham palace as you can see 10.45 parade in palace. Last you can go to London eye at 7 PM. Lot of Rikshaws are available near London Eye for local tour in Westminster area. They are costly but if you have less time of very senior citizens you can avail this service. In £40 you can see all these areas listed here but it will be just birds eye view.
London Eye
The whole one round takes about 25 minutes and ticket is £25. The speed is very slow and you can enjoy the panoramic view of London from both sides as the capsule is completely made of glass. There are 32 cars and No. 13 is missing as it is not ominous. You can try the ticket online and sometimes discounts are also available. Better to buy the tickets online.
Open time is 10 AM to 8.30 PM.
Built in 1999, the London Eye is the largest revolving wheel in the world. It is 135 metres high, it gives one a panoramic view of London up to 25 kilometres in all directions. Therefore, it’s called London Eye.
Big Ben
The tower called Elizabeth II tower (since 2012- Diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II) and clock is called Big Ben. The clock is wound 3 times a week and is regularly maintained. It is adjacent to British Parliament in Westminster. This clock was constructed at cost which is equivalent to £285,000 today.
In 1290 AD the first clock was commissioned here,and in 1367 the old clock was replaced with new clock mounted on this existing tower. It used to chime for public.
In 1698 again the clock was pulled down and replaced by solar clock. In 1699 the tower again pulled down during repair and clock also broke when was being sent to St. Paul’s cathedral.
In 1834 the tower and Westminster was destroyed in great fire and in 1843 the construction of new Westminster palace and clock tower began. So what we see today is 1843 AD tower and clock was commissioned in 1859.
Trafalgar Square
This was constructed in 1840 AD to commemorate the victory of British Navy led by Admiral Nelson over French forces of Napoleon during Napoleonic wars.
Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Trafalgar Square was constructed between the 1820s and ’40s.
Strangely there is a statue of George IV in Trafalgar Square who has no connection with battle of Trafalgar as he was king after 15 years of this battle. Actually this statue was kept here temporarily as it was to be installed somewhere else. But somehow it was not moved and lying here since then.
Buckingham Palace
This area was a private property and initially was built for some one else but later acquired by king George III in 1761 for his wife. Later after decades 3 more wings were added to it. Later it became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. This palace has 775 rooms.
We could not see this palace from inside as normally it is open to public July to late September when we can enter and see Queen gallery and state rooms.
Changing of the Guard occurs just outside of Buckingham Palace at 10.45 AM and typically lasts around 45 minute. We could not se that also as morning time we were in London Eye.
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