In its 2000-year long history London has seen it all. Its beginning
and its early days, all the way till the 16th century, were not very
promising. And in spite of it being the focal point of the political
and cultural life of the island, London spent most of its history as a
far-flung second-rate capital of a small, isolated and peripheral
country. For the sake of comparison, in the late thirteenth century
cities such as Venice, Nürnberg and Paris counted each more than
100,000 inhabitants, while London could barely boast a third of this
number. But how radically things change! In the past two hundred years
London has been, in one way or another, the capital of the
world. In the 19th century the city became the centre of the largest
empire in history, but once this empire was gone London quickly
transformed itself into a major cultural and financial hub. Today,
London's earlier unglamourous days are readily forgotten and the very
mentioning of the city's name evokes the tradition of prosperity as
well as a cutting edge contemporary culture. This ever changing mamoth - in terms of population London is the largest city
in the EU - never ceases to thrill its visitors. The dining and
entertainment scene is expanding at an alarming rate while the city's
ever changing skyline is constantly being spiced up with the newest and
the boldest architectural experiments. In spite of seemingly always
remaining its recognizable self - just think of Big Ben and the double-decker buses - London is actually one of the fastest changing places
on the planet. This means that no matter how often you visit it, you
always come back to a different city, and if it happens that your last
visit to Britain's capital occurred ten years ago, your right to claim
that you have been to London has long expired. Very often it is
difficult for the Londoners themselves to keep up with their changing
metropolis, and living here you are condemned to feeling as if you were
constantly missing out on something. This all contributes to London being an
incredibly seductive place, and before visiting one should always be
warned that many came to London for a week, but have stayed for the
rest of their lives.
