London's so big that it hasn't got a centre: it's made of forty or fifty small towns and each of these areas is different. Each area's got its own shops and pubs and cinemas.

The oldest part of London is the City of London. There you can see St.Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. There was a big fire in London in 1666, and after the fire the whole city was built again. But a lot of the buildings that you see there today were built in the Nineteenth Century. Very few people live in the City: nearly all the buildings are offices.

The most famous area of London is Westminster, where the Houses of Parliament are. A lot of politicians live there, so that they can be near Parliament, and all the big government offices are there, in a road called Whitehall.

The big theatres and cinemas are in the West End of London, the area near Piccadilly Circus. Also in the West End are Oxford Street, where you can find the big department stores, and Charing Cross Road, a road full of shops that sell old and new books. Behind the theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue is Soho. In this area, there are restaurants that serve food from every country in the world. But be careful in Soho: there are also a lot of strange night clubs!

The Port of London is in the area east of the City. This is the East End of London. The people who live there are nearly all working-class people, and they're called Cockneys. They speak English with an accent; and it's quite difficult to understand them.

Although London's very big, it's got several large parks where Londoners can go to get away from cars and houses. The most famous ones are Hyde Park, Regent's Park and Hampstead Heath. Kensington and Hampstead, two of the nices areas, are near parks. In Kensington, there are long streets of tall, white houses. In Hampstead, there are little old houses and trees and gardens: it's like the country. Another interesting part of London is Chelsea, next to the river, where painters like to live.

Sometimes an area's well-known because people of one nationality live there. The Irish live in Camden Town and Hammersmith; West Indians live in Brixton; Australians live in Earls Court. But in Notting Hill you can find people of every nationality... and a lot of young people, too.

Every road in London has got a postal code, which tells you what part of London it's in. This helps postmen and taxi-drivers to find addresses. The postal code for Westminster's W.C.1. (West Centre 1). For Hampstead, it's N.W.3. (North-West 3), for Kensington, it's W.8. (West 8) and for Chelsea, it's S.W.3 (South-West 3). Remember that there are probably twenty Church Streets in London; so, if you stay in a Church Street, don't forget the postal code!