The Beauty of London

My third journey in UK is to London. A beautiful and convinience city. At least, that's the first picture that I depict from a 2-nights adventure in London.

Firstly, I was amazed with the underground system which I found out very useful for me. Though it's a little bit complicated, but I could deal with it and easily adopt with the transport system. The Mayor of London has provided a Tube map so that all foreigners can reach every part of London easily. Such transportation was firstly introduce during 1800s. It's unbelievable that when Indonesians tried to struggle from hunger and imperialism, the Brits had developed a very complicated transport system.

It was not by coincidence, though, since the British is blessed with many 'the great Brittons'. Isambard Brunel, for example, he constructed the more functional and profitable Great Western Railway. Well connected, brilliant, and resourceful but also opinionated, autocratic, and impractical, Brunel has come to epitomize for many a brief period when England led the world in technological innovation and its railroads were the envy of its competitors. The other two celebrated projects were the Thames Tunnel and the Great Eastern steamship—were by any measure gargantuan as well as disastrous, and for both reasons have endured as fitting symbols of the age of heroic engineering. Well, by having a rapid changing in technologies, especially those in railway system, Brunel might smile in his grave.

Talking about the area, Greater London covers an area of 1,584 sq km and is the smallest of the England’s nine regions (1.2% of the total land area of England). There are currently four World Heritage Sites - Palace of Westminster, Tower of London, Maritime Greenwich and Kew Gardens and 17 national museums across the capital. Also, there's a popular 'London's eye', which is running by the British Airways. You can see the entire London when you reach the top of London's Eye. Don't forget to share a big smile afterwards because a camera will shoot your picture and hand it as a souvernirs.

Interestingly, London has over 40,000 shops and some 80 individual markets, including Walthamstow Market, Europe's longest daily street market. Also, so many performances available in London. I might say that London is a paradise for performances; opera, theater, music, movie, comedian, and so on. Leicester Square played host to 42 film premieres in 2004, including: 'The Incredibles', 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' and 'The Aviator'. Source; Westminster Events Team . London has 3800 pubs, 9% of those in Britain. There are 233 nightclubs,15% of the clubs in Britain. In Westminster alone there are 330 venues open after midnight.

However, London is the most populated area. Greater London has a population of 7.2 million people and it is one of Europe’s most densely populated areas. It is home to 1 in 8 of the UK’s population and has 3 million households. Well, it is relatively number to Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia), a home for over 10 million people. If you are used to crowded situation (like me), I prefer London as a home to live in.
Londoners are predominantly white and Anglo-Saxon, more than a quarter of its population is from an alternative ethnic background, making up half of the UK’s total ethnic minorities. This gives London the largest non-white population of any European city and is an important part of its cosmopolitan feel. Over 250 languages are spoken in the city. No wonder that they call London as one of the multicultural city in the world.

Another interesting figure is, London has more women than men and its population is younger when compared to the rest of the country; 47% of its population is aged 16-44 whereas the figure is 40% for the rest of the UK. Maybe that's expalain why it's rarely meeting oldies in London during my visit. In Birmingham, oldies can easily be found.

Well, it's so much to tell about London. If you haven't been to London, then, c'mon, visit London. You might experience the Beauty of London.