Tower Bridge

For starters, let's clear up a few misconceptions that many visitors to London have over this landmark bridge. First of all, the name of the bridge is the "Tower Bridge", not the "London Bridge" as just about every other tourist calls it. The true London Bridge is located just upstream from the Tower Bridge and is quite a Plane Jane in comparison to it's more famous neighbor.

That's the London Bride straight ahead from the bow of the HMS Belfast

Actually, that isn't even exactly true, the original London Bridge of nursery rhyme fame "London Bridge is falling down...", which spanned the Thames for more than six hundred years from the 12th Century on before falling into disrepair, was replaced a couple of times and was then actually sold and moved to the United States when in 1967, the Common Council of the City of London began to look for potential buyers for the fourth or fifth conversion of the London Bridge. Lake Havasu City founder and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch placed the winning bid of $2,460,000 on April 18, 1968 and the bridge was disassembled block by block and shipped to Arizona where it was reassembled. It was then replaced by today's version which just about has to win the award for the most boring bridge in London award.

Anyway, the whole point for this condescending diatribe is to point out that the Tower Bridge is not the London Bridge. While I'm being condescending and talking down to people I may as well bring up the fact of why the bridge is named "Tower" bridge.

If you are one of the people who believe it's named the "Tower Bridge" because of the two massive towers on each end of the bridge, you'd be WRONG. It was named Tower Bridge for no other reason than it's close proximity to the Tower of London. Fun facts all around! Ah those fun loving Brits!

I have to say this right now, I am somewhat infatuated with the Tower Bridge along with numerous other major European landmarks. I think it has to do with reading about them and seeing them in pictures all of your life and logging them away in a mental bucket list of things you have to see before you die.

So when you find yourself standing along the Thames River actually looking up at something you've imagined visiting all of your life the feeling is pretty surreal; that and the fact that I'm an eight year old in a sixty year old body.

When we walked from the Sky Garden where we  had lunch over to the Tower Bridge I was geeked out as only a monument junkie can be. Oh Boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!! We went over and paid a rather large sum to take an elevator up to the walking spans which linked the north and south towers of the bridge. Hey, there's only ONE Tower Bridge, and let's face it, how many more chances will we get to walk across the elevated path on top of it? So we exited the elevator and proceeded to head out onto the walkway which is partially glass, yes, a glass bottomed walkway above the bridge!

One of the more unusual selfies

After braving the transparent catwalk on both sides of the bridge and looking at the historical and educational displays we headed back down the stairwell to the elevator that dropped us off outside the southern end of the Bridge.

The London skyline from the London Bridge overhead path. The top two floors of that tall looming building to the left is the where we had lunch in the Sky Garden. Note the close proximity of the bridge to the White Tower and the Tower of London on the right.

After leaving the bridge's south tower we headed down to the machine rooms that work the bridges massive draw bridges. The Victorian machinery is still in place and still working away and looks as good today as it did 100 years ago.

We poked around the numerous machine rooms (part of the Tower Bridge self guided tour, and after having seen our fill of large yet wonderfully painted machines we exited and headed back over to the Borough Market where we picked up a few items for dinner before boarding the tube that whisked us back towards the welcoming embrace of Chelsea and our warm little apartment.

The Waterloo Train depot, one of three transfers on our way back home from Tower Bridge on the south side of the Thames. This was rush hour as it was nearing 4pm and people were starting to head home; about as bad as it gets. Just take a deep breath and muddle through.