First Impressions of London

So, let's talk about the Palace of Westminster, yeah? This place is like the big boss of British politics, sitting all grand and mighty by the River Thames in London. You've probably seen it in pictures, with its iconic clock tower housing Big Ben. It's been around for ages, witnessing everything from historic debates to fiery political showdowns (Gillin 1).  It definitely needs to be your first stop when trying to get a ‘First Impression London.

Now, if we take a peek into William Blake's poem "London," we get a bit of a darker vibe. Blake's painting a picture of the city back…

Baker Street is a mile-and-a-half-long street in London, England, built in the 18th century. It started as a stretch of housing mostly for the wealthy. But as London changed, so did Baker Street. London grew both in size and economically, and Baker Street began to transition apartments and homes into offices and working environments. Around the 1880s when The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy was published, Baker Street was bursting with commerce. In 1863, the Metropolitan Line was built with Baker Street as one of its stops. The Met was an underground railway that connected 40 miles of…

Next stop on our tour is the hustling, bustling center of life that is London's Brixton Market. It is a maze of busy alleys with stores, restaurants, and booths alike. For more than a century, it has served as the hub of Brixton's cultural and commercial life. Walking through the streets of the alley is like entering the rich tapestry of "Caribbean street food, vintage clothing, handmade jewellery, Indian kimonos and African fabrics" (Brixton Village). Walking through Brixton Market is like taking a tour of the world---you can experience the tastes of the East,…

The final destination in our little tour is not one you should miss. As one of the most famous buildings in London, tourists flock to see the stately walls of Buckingham Palace year-round. The Palace, which has been home to the Royal Family since 1762, is surrounded by a large estate with extensive gardens like St. James's Park and the Queen Victoria Memorial (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). Believe it or not, the Palace actually started out as a small house, no more than a rowhome, and through a long series of renovations, grew into the near monstrosity we see today with about…