Great Chitter Chatter - Stories from Loud Voices

England is an incredibly beautiful|a most amazing nation in which to take a vacation. It has a great many visitor attractions well worth visiting to suit all tastes. For instance|One such place is the historic city of York which dates back to the times of the Roman Empire, Torquay (often called the English Riviera) and Liverpool (European City of Culture 2008). Possibly the most famous place to spend some time is London the capital city of the United Kingdom of Britain

London is an amazing destination to visit, maybe for just a weekend or, maybe for a longer period. You may be surprised at the number of people residing in Britain who have not yet visited London, this is especially surprising when you bear in mind the fact it is usually top of most visitors lists (of places they enjoyed most).

There are so many things to see and do in London that it is quite impossible to list them all at the same time. Surprisingly one of the newest attractions in London also happens to be one of the most popular - The London Eye. Another popular attraction nearby to the London Eye is the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. However, one place which must not be missed is Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is England’s most widely known Royal residence, as it is home to Queen Elizabeth. Buckingham Palace is to be found at the heart of London which makes it the perfect focus for tourists. The daily pageant of ‘Changing of the Guard’ is incredibly interesting to see and typically English.

Buckingham Palace was originally referred to as Buckingham House. It was originally a large town house, constructed in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. It is actually the townhouse which forms the main core of the palace as we know it today.

During the next 3 quarters of a century Buckingham House was made larger by the building of an additional three wings creating a central courtyard. The primary architects responsible for these additions were Edward Blore and John Nash. It was also John Nash who was responsible for the interior design of the monumental staterooms.

The widely known architect Aston Webb was responsible for the building of the principal facade of Buckingham Palace which, in 1912, he re-designed. Webb in association with the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock were the winners of a competition to design a memorial to Queen Victoria. This memorial still exists today.

The Queen has a selection of royal residences besides Buckingham Palace. Every year the Queen spends the Christmas season at Sandringham House in Norfolk. Sandringham House is actually privately owned by the Queen (classed as a private royal residence.

Another private residence is Balmoral Castle, found in Royal Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The Queen was in residence at Balmoral Castle when she heard of the shocking accident involving Princess Diana.

If you would like to take a vacation in the U.K. then you might be pleased to discover that it is possible to find cheap hotels in London without any great difficulty, on the other hand you may want to stay in more luxurious surroundings and the small selection of boutique hotels in London should be more than satisfactory.

This article was submitted by Linda Jefferson of San Francisco.

We’ve just returned from a family holiday to the United Kingdom, our second trip to that area in the last few years and I thought that I’d mention a few of the amazing uk hotels where we’ve stayed during our latest trip. There is so much to see and do in the wonderful cities of the British Isles, those guys really understand the meaning of the word history. Add to that the fact that they converse in a language not unlike our own and that a museum or art gallery can be enjoyed in case of inclement weather and you have found a ingredients of a truly memorable trip. We’re confident that you’d enjoy visiting the British Isles, but would always suggest that U.S. citizens check with the U.S. Department of State Advice to Travelers website before undertaking international travel.

Edinburgh, Scotland

You can be assured of a friendly welcome in the wonderful city of Edinburgh. This friendly east coast city consists of the Old Town which includes the Royal Mile and the New Town, with Princes Street forming the division between the two sections. Edinburgh University dates back to 1582 and its colleges, galleries and museums are scattered throughout the entire city. There are many exhibits open to the visitor, check their web site for opening times.

The summer season sees Edinburgh playing host to many thousands of visitors who are there to visit the various festivals. The Edinburgh International Festival runs for 4 weeks and features theatre, music, dance and opera. Running beside it is the world renowned “Fringe”, which in 2006 offered over 28,000 performances in 261 venues throughout the historic city of Edinburgh. With that many different shows to choose from (in 2006 36% of them were World Premieres) including theatre, comedy, ballet, shows for the children and many musical concerts there is something for everybody. There is in addition, the Blues and Jazz Festival, The Literary Festival and The International Film Festival that run throughout the summer here.

Since we only had two days in the city we decided to push the boat out and stay in one of the most celebrated hotels in Scotland, The Scotsman on North Bridge, Edinburgh. This wonderful old hotel is situated right in the center of many of Edinburgh’s greatest buildings and venues such as The Royal Mile, Holyrood House, Edinburgh Castle and the Scottish National Gallery are all within easy walking distance. As I mentioned earlier the decision had been made to pamper ourselves with a stay at this amazing hotel and everything that we could have expected became reality.

Birmingham, England

One of the main reasons for our recent visit to the UK was to visit the Crufts Dog Show which is held in the National Exhibition Center Arena in Birmingham, the UK’s second city. Spread over four days, it’s the most famous dog show in the world. Last Year 143,000 visitors admired a total of over 25,000 dogs from 26 countries in the show rings. Another great crowd-puller at Crufts is the Discover Dogs section where the owners of 190 different breeds are there with their dog, ready to answer questions from prospective new owners. Because we were only going to the dog show, rather than going into the city of Birmingham we took the decision to stay at a hotel near to the NEC, Birmingham. This time we weren’t searching for one of the world’s top hotels, more a place to lay our heads after a hard day walking miles inside the vast NEC complex. We settled on The NEC Crowne Plaza Hotel which is situated inside the grounds of the National Exhibition Centre. The hotel was exactly what you’d expect, bright, clean and totally impersonal. There was nothing to complain about and we’d readily stay there again for any exhibitions or concerts at the NEC.

London, England

Our final venue on this holiday was London. If you’ve never seen London you really do need to comprehend the sheer size of the city. It has spread outwards in recent years and it’s essential that you decide exactly what you intend to visit during your trip else you’ll spend all of your time sitting on buses and the London underground and I can tell you, that is not a pleasure that you should should look forward to. Our agenda for this final few days of our trip involved us taking part in some serious retail therapy i.e. shopping. To that end we decided to stay in the Knightsbridge area with its vast array of chic, world renowned stores such as Harrods. We booked into the Sheraton Park Tower in ultra-stylish Knightsbridge. The Sheraton Park Tower is one of the city’s most stylish hotels, famed for its “One-O-One” restaurant, London’s best fish restaurant.  The Sheraton Park Tower boasts tremendous views over the London skyline with many rooms overlooking Hyde Park In addition to the host of exciting shops, you will find many of the city’s best museums and landmarks within walking distance of the hotel.