London(I)

On 14, July all of our group wanted to London. Maggy waited us at 9 o’clock at the university gate. The weather is good and all of us were excited. This is my first time to London and last week we prepared to London but the bus didn’t come. So we had to go to London that day. On the road we singed and talked and dreamed what London is. London is the capital of UK and it is one of the most important cities in the world. When most people heat the words "Big Ben" they immediately conjure up an image of the striking Victorian Gothic structure of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament). Let's clear up a common misconception first; technically speaking, the name "Big Ben" does not refer to the famous tower, nor to the four huge clock faces of this London landmark; instead, it refers to the largest of the five bells inside the clock tower, whose chimes are such a familiar sound to listeners to BBC radio over the years. The tower was begun following the disastrous fire which destroyed the old Palace of Westminster in 1834. Charles Barry was given the contract to rebuild the Palace, and his designs included a clock tower. r The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster took 13 years to build, and was completed in 1856. The tower is 316 feet high. The spire that rises above the belfry is built with an iron frame, and it is this frame which supports the weight of the bells. A staircase rises up inside the tower, and a climb is rewarded by excellent views from the belfry level. Several small rooms are built into the lower part of the tower, including a small prison cell. The cast iron frame of the clock face was designed by AW Pugin, who was responsible for much of the Gothic decorative elements of the Palace of Westminster. The dials are 23 feet in diameter and the faces themselves are not solid, but is composed of many small pieces of opal glass, assembled like a stained glass window. Several of the central pieces of glass can be removed to allow inspection of the hands from inside the clock tower. The numbers on the clock faces are each two feet high. An inscription in Latin below each clock face translates as "God save our Queen Victoria I". At the time of its construction the clock mechanism was easily the largest in the world, and it is still among the largest today. The clock mechanism, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, has proven to be remarkably accurate over the years, allowing small adjustments to the clock's rate to be made by placing pennies on a small shoulder of the clock's pendulum!