London - Tower Bridge, the Tower of London & other special sites

As I stated in my previous post, the Royal Albert Hall was only the beginning of our day together. After kindly picking up and transferring all my luggage to my new hotel, where I was to meet my new tour group later that afternoon, and driving around to show me some of the famous sights of London, such as Big Ben, my friends took me to lunch at St Katherine’s Wharf and then for a walk across Tower Bridge. What an incredible experience that was!  

It is so special and so much more meaningful to see a city through the eyes of someone who loves it and knows it well. It was a magical, happy day, which I will never forget. 

Until this day, I only had glimpses of London from taxis, so mainly saw the heavy traffic, the cyclists taking their lives in their hands weaving in and out of the traffic, all the roadworks and construction going on, the police and other emergency vehicles racing around the streets, and the occasional iconic landmark. But now I was able to feel some of the spirit and energy of the place. It is certainly a very multicultural city. On this Sunday it was a family day, though, and so I saw families of every possible origin, holding onto and smiling at young children, pushing strollers, just enjoying life. It also is a city of the most amazing mixture of architecture, with historical buildings and very modern buildings side-by-side. Londoners have nicknames for some of the new structures - 'the shard', 'the gherkin', 'the London Eye' . . .  yet these titles are stated with a mixture of amusement, fondness and pride.  

The Royal College of Science.

A close-up view of one of the sculptures by the front door.

The current Royal College of Music.

Big Ben, about to be cleaned down for about four years for necessary maintenance. The scaffolding was already halfway up the tower.

One view of St Katherine's Wharf. 

The Royal Barge can be seen in the background. 

'The gherkin'.

Entering Tower Bridge. This bridge could be raised to allow ships to pass beneath, but nowadays big ships dock at the mouth of the Thames, not in London. The water is not deep enough for them here.  

A glimpse of 'the shard' from the bridge.

At least pedestrians are protected from the traffic going over the bridge. 

View from the bridge.

On the right is the Tower of London at the foot of the bridge, surrounded by many modern buildings including 'the gherkin'. 

Seen on the bridge.

Part of the Tower of London.

Looking down from the bridge. These cannons were in front of the Tower of London. 

What is now grass was once the moat around the Tower of London. 

Another view of the wall and what was the moat, of the Tower of London.

'The shard' is actually complete, despite what looks like an opening at the top. It certainly does look like a shard of glass! You would not want to fall down on it from above, so I assume hot air balloons would never go near it! (I have no idea whether hot air balloons operate in London - it would be fraught with danger I think.)