London Bridges

Among myriad other childhood songs, "London Bridges" is a natural part of the kids' repertoire. Not surprisingly, therefore, Ben in particular has been wondering for a while if we could go see the "London Bridge" as the Thames River isn't that far from our home.

There are of course many bridges across the river (it is my Pittsburgh, however, that has arguably more bridges per square mile than anywhere else on the planet), yet it's the Tower Bridge that gets all the press. There is another with the actual name London Bridge, but it's surpringly lame. To the contrary, Tower Bridge is an impressive structure, as some of the pictures above sort of capture. The bridge has a regal look and feel about and it's conveniently located next to the Tower of London, which is one of Europe's oldest castle fortresses (home to among other things, the Crown Jewels). It being a typically grey, cold, and blustery day, we checked out the bridge and left the fortress for another day. (It's a perfect thing to do when Alex and Even get here.)

We took the elevator to the top of the bridge, where they have an observation deck. London does not have the most impressive skyline, but it's a sprawling city and it was neat to be able to take in the panoramic view. Yet another thing we've not gotten to yet is the so-called Millennium Eye, a massive Ferris wheel, which by all accounts gives spectactular views of greater London. So for now, the view from the Tower Bridge will do just fine. There were also some interesting looking exhibits on the construction and operation of the bridge, but to say that this did not interest the boys would be quite the understatement.

After descending from the bridge, we found a small stone staircase that took us from street level down to the banks of the Thames. There we stumbled across a well-populated and lovely promenade with shops, cafes, cool-looking lofts, nice restaurants, and so forth. The boys are very much into "secret passages" and so them finding this spot (regardless of whether it's well known) was a treat, including the narrow brick-lined alleys that connected different parts of the promenade. Along the way, we happened upon the cutest little coffee shop where we warmed our bones with hot chocolate. I think it was called Starbucks, or something odd like that, and it's always a treat to discover those little cultural nuggets that we could never dream of finding in America.