Tower Bridge & Thames River Cruise

Tower Bridge seen from our Thames River Cruise

The Tower Bridge spans the River Thames adjacent to the Tower of London and is the city's most famous and iconic bridge.  The drawbridge raises and lowers for ships and other large boats to pass while the walkways across the top allow for great views up and down the river.  As with the majority of London bridges, you can walk as well as drive across (the Millennium Bridge is pedestrian-only).  Many people picture this bridge when they hear the name London Bridge and the song London Bridge is Falling Down.  However, London Bridge is a much plainer bridge.  The old London Bridge was dismantled and sold to American Robert McCulloch who had it shipped to the United States and

London Eye

reconstructed in Lake Havasu, Arizona where it stands today.  Legend has it he thought he was purchasing the Tower Bridge, but he supposedly denied that to be the case.

We took a Thames River Cruise in order to see the city from a different vantage point.  From the river, we got excellent views of the Tower Bridge.  Mona and I walked across Tower Bridge, exploring the areas on both sides so we only sailed from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier next to Parliament.  Mom did the full cruise experience and sailed up to Greenwich from Tower Pier and then all the way back to Westminster.  During our cruise we got great views of the London Eye, the Customs House, the Tate Modern, and many other buildings too numerous to mention.

Selfie outside Westminster Abbey after
the organ recital.

We capped off our Sunday evening with a visit to Westminster Abbey for a free organ recital.  Although we were not able to tour at that time, it was nice to be inside and listen to such a grand organ in a glorious space.  This year's current organ scholar Jeremy Woodside played for 30 minutes. His first piece was actually an arrangement of Sleigh Ride -- certainly not what I was expecting to hear - and the other two were 20th century classical pieces I was not familiar with but were enjoyable.  The finale was just what you wanted to hear -- loud and sustained so you could experience the fullness of the space and reverberation of the sound once the piece concluded.  A nice way to cap our Sunday night in London.