This part of the visit to London found several of us taking a trip on the Thames. If you missed the previous post about Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, click on this sentence to go read it.
We don’t want to pigeonhole you, but you’re a pigeon.
We found this guy in the parking lot for the boats.
I’d say it has an eye on the Thames.
So we set off down the river and the biggest thing dominating the first part of the journey is the London Eye.
One really tall Ferris Wheel!
The pilot of the boat moved us over to the Eye to give us a better feeling for how massive it really is.
Is that building bulging in the middle?
Some of the newer office buildings have some unique architecture.
This bridge does not appear to be falling down.
This is not the bridge you think it is.
Everything old is new again.
But London also makes use of its older buildings, repurposing them. In this case, an art museum.
Older buildings sit alongside the river Thames for miles. But sometimes the new mixes in with the old.
To be or not to be?
The Old Globe still regales theater goers with regular performance.
A very old pub. I had the meat pie. Meh. Neighborhood pubs were better.
Purportedly the oldest operating pub in London. It’s more like a tourist trap now.
This old ship was in dry dock as a crew was replacing a lot of the wood, using centuries old techniques.
It takes two elevator trips to get to the top. There’s a bar at the top too.
The Shard, the tallest building in London. Yes, we went to the top later that evening.
The authentic London Bridge.
Sing along with me now…”London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.” Actually this one is not. The one that was sinking was sold to a crazy American, who took it apart and rebuilt it in Lake Havasu.
I guess English architects like a bulge in their modern buildings.
Another office building with unique architecture.
One of her majesty’s warships, check out those guns.
Yet another one of her majesty’s warships. They were available for tours, but by the time we got back ashore, it was 5 p.m.
Tower Bridge.
Finally, the visual icon on the river Thames. Not it’s not the London Bridge, it’s the Tower Bridge. We will get up close and up on top in another post.
This guy joined us towards the end of our journey on the Thames. So long for now. Where’s the nearest pub?
Want to visit the Tower of London? Here’s the link to Part One of that story.