Part I: Introducing England in .NET

Encoder QR Code in .NET Part I: Introducing England

Many travelers thrill at the experience of standing in a place where history was made England, as you probably know, is loaded with these hallowed spots In this ancient realm, you can see places that span roughly 5,000 years of human history My suggested itinerary covers only a fraction of the sites you can visit Using London as a base for several day trips, this itinerary is geared for an eight-day stay in England With this itinerary, you don t need a car On Day One, you arrive in London, a city that s hardly lacking in historic monuments Start off with a trip to the granddaddy of them all, the 900-year-old Tower of London Join one of the guided tours led by the Beefeaters, and wander around afterward on your own Tower Green is the spot where political prisoners, such as Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More, were beheaded during the reign of Henry VIII You have to see the Crown Jewels, housed in a high-security armory From the Tower, travel by boat (you find a ferry pier right outside) to Westminster Pier, the stop for the Houses of Parliament and your next destination, Westminster Abbey This ancient Gothic edifice, where almost every British monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned, resonates with history In the chapels, you find the tombs of Queen Elizabeth I; her half-sister, Mary Tudor ( Bloody Mary ); and her onetime rival, Mary Queen of Scots Great English statesmen, war heroes, and writers are commemorated throughout Have dinner at Rules, London s oldest restaurant, to cap off your history-filled day (For details on the sights in this paragraph, see 12; for the restaurant Rules, see 11) On Day Two, head over to Buckingham Palace, ideally on a day when the historic pomp and pageantry of the Changing of the Guard is taking place (daily from Apr 1 through early June, on alternate days the rest of the year) The palace itself, Queen Elizabeth s official London residence, is open to the public in August and September If you can t get into the palace, stop in at the Royal Mews, where you can see the amazing gilded coach in which the queen rides to open Parliament After your royal tours, make your way to the Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum in Westminster The fascinating underground bunker was the World War II headquarters for Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet The bunker has been preserved exactly as it was during England s darkest hour in the 1940s Your last major stop of the day is St Paul s Cathedral, site of the famous fairy-tale wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981 (See 12 for information on all these London attractions) Day Three, if you re up for it, can be your day to compare and contrast a royal palace and a royal castle Start the day early at Kensington Palace,

used by monarchs from William and Mary to Queen Victoria, who was born there An audio guide fills you in on the history On display in the historical dress collection are gowns worn by Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Diana (For details on Kensington Palace, see 12) Afterward, travel to Windsor Castle, less than an hour by train from London Another one of the queen s official residences, the historic castle set in its Great Park is open to visitors most of the year The sumptuous interior was redone in the 19th century (You can find information on Windsor Castle in 13) Treat yourself to a full-day trip to York, one of England s most historic cities, on Day Four Get an early start, because the train takes two hours to get there You can find a wealth of historic attractions in York Start your explorations at awe-inspiring York Minster, the largest Gothic structure in northern Europe Its enormous windows shimmer with medieval stained glass Then head over to Jorvik Viking Centre for a ride back to York of a thousand years ago, when the city was a Viking settlement called Jorvik York is wonderfully walkable, although its ancient lanes can be confusing Stroll through the Shambles, a medieval street where butchers had their shops, and make a full or partial circuit of the medieval city walls You can have dinner in York, on the train ride back, or in London (See 21 for details on York and its attractions) Make another day trip on Day Five, this time to Winchester, the ancient Anglo-Saxon capital of Wessex under King Alfred By train from London, the trip takes about one and a half hours Winchester is a small, delightful town and a pleasure to explore Begin at mighty Winchester Cathedral, which houses the remains of some of the AngloSaxon kings of England You also can see the grave of Jane Austen, the brilliant author of Pride and Prejudice and other early-19th-century classics Making a circuit of the town, passing Winchester College (founded in 1382) and following the River Itchen, is easy The famous King Arthur s Round Table hangs in Castle Hall, the largest medieval hall in England after Westminster Sir Walter Raleigh heard his death sentence in Castle Hall in 1603 In the small City Museum, you can see Roman mosaics from the period when Winchester was a Roman settlement You can be back in London in time for dinner at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, the onetime hangout of Dr Johnson and Charles Dickens (See 16 for information on Winchester; see 11 for the restaurant Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese) Day Six is another day trip, this time to Canterbury, about one and a half hours east of London, in Kent In terms of England s religious history, you can call only a few places more important More than 700 years ago, pilgrims began flocking to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, who had been murdered by King Henry II s henchmen in Canterbury Cathedral Becket s shrine was destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, but the site is marked near the high altar The poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote about a group of those Old English speaking pilgrims in The