The Thames River from the Tower of London to Tower Bridge

The gigantic Millenium Eye, a 450 foot high observation wheel by British Airways, is above at top right.
Also called the 'London Eye', it is one of the sumbols that London commerce is in absolutely full swing
along the Thames River. Billions of pounds are being invested in more new buildings than
you can hardly imagine. Cranes are a common sight along the river, and I do not mean
the kind of cranes that fly. These are the mechanical kind, and are in the
process of making the new London. Fortunately, there is still a lot of
the old London left for us to see. At least for a while.

From a boat going down the Thames toward the sea, you can still gaze upon the room above an Inn where Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield. There are pubs that characters as disparate as Blackbeard the Pirate and William Shakespeare the Playwright frequented in their own times. And quite a bit more.

Getting to the River
In a way it is simple. Just go to the center of London from wherever you are. In reality, I would suggest you find your way via Underground to the Embankment station. It is at a huge bend in the Thames, where engineers have constructed mamouth embankments (hence the name) to keep the power of the river from cutting away the bank on the north side as it swings round.

Exiting the Embankment Station going straight ahead, you come out looking directly at the Thames. Queen Victoria garden, where you can catch a free concert at noon, is to your left, as is Cleopatra's Needle, and Hungerford Bridge (the one in the top photo). To your right is Parliment and Big Ben. Cross the street, Embankment Street, of course, at the nearest stoplight, and go left a few yards. You are now at the ticket office of the public boats that traverse the river all the way to Greenwich. Check to see if you can still get a huge discount on your ticket if you show them your Underground Travelcard (Get one anyway - great value.)

Rollin' On The River
Actually, we were just jusing the boat for transportation to Greenwich, several miles down the river, because of the Trafalgar Tavern. More about that later. It turns out that the journey there was even more fun than our destination. In fact, it became one of the highlights, if not THE hightlight of our time in London.

The boats are spacious, have refreshments available, and most important, a Guide. They say that they are just a part of the crew, but it is clear they are the center of the voyage. Ours told us such amazing - probably true, entertaining at the very least - stories along the way. He had something to say about every meter of river we sailed down. By the way, Blackfriars railroad bridge is at the very top left corner in the picture with Colleen.

To me, this is one of the best ways of seeing the Tower of London. No lines. No crowds. And you get a realistic perspective of a nobleman or woman who was being rowed to infamous Traitor's Gate where, because you are special, you do not have to go through the additional indignity of having the London crowd bait you while you are beheaded for your crimes, real or imagined, against the Crown. No, you simply toss the headsman a gold soverign for the courtesy he is about to bestow upon you, and perhaps also in hopes of securing a quick, clean stroke.

Incidentally, the Crown Jewels are also kept at the Tower. Long lines. Some people think seeing them is worth it. cIn the photo above, the river is at high tide. Traitor's Gate, which is in the bank that holds the river at bay, directly in front of the archway of the Tower, is almost completely submerged when the river is high. Other places along the river have a steps going down to the water that can be most submerged, or at low tide are a very long flight of stairs. The river varies up to 20 feet or even more between high and low tides.

Tower Bridge
There are so many faces to this grand dame of bridges, undoubtedly one of the best known in the world. Amusingly, it is often miscalled London Bridge, which fell down a long time ago, was replaced, and the replacement sold to Lake Havasue City in Arizona, and another replacement built... all very plain. No towers.

Currently Tower Bridge houses The Tower Bridge Story in its towers and engine rooms. Animatronic figures tell the story, I'm told. I do know that the engines are need to raise and lower the drawbridge in the center of Tower Bridge when large ships wish to pass by. Queen Victoria threw the switch for that to occur the very first time, as the bridge was being dedicated and a large ship was coming through to demonstrate the height of British engineering. It is the only time to date that the machinery did not work. The ship hit the bridge, with damage to both. May I be excused when I say the Queen was not amused.

The connection between the towers is actually a set of walkways, which were closed to the public for years because they had become a favorite place for leapers, as they are called in England. But now they have been reopened, and you can walk across if you wish... something we haven't done but would like to on a future trip.
The view must be smashing.

This view was taken as we went underneath on our way to Greenwich. There were so many neat things to see along the way. Of couse a view of St. Paul's Cathedrial, and the place where the one of the judges of London, who was tired of being called a 'hanging judge', had his new method of dispatching criminals carried out. They were tied to pilings at low tide. They were untied the next day, two high tides later. This is how he attended to pirates that caught his attention, and apparently there were quite a few caught by the
Royal Navy in his day.

Speaking of the Royal Navy, the fort that has held munitions for the ships of the British Navy for centuries is on the south bank of the Thames. You pass it on your right on the way down. It is still in use, although there are also other facilities other places these days. Imagine Admiral Nelson standing at the gate, watching them load cannonballs and powder into his ships. He did exactly that, just before the Battle of Trafalgar.

Which brings us to the Trafalgar Tavern

Originally known as the Old George in 1837, when it was build on the water overlooing the Thames, it was popular with authors like Dickens and Thackeray. Dickens even used the Duncan Room on the ground floor as the setting for the wedding breakfast in his novel Our Mutual Friend. Politicians like Gladstone and Pitt used the Nelson Room upstairs for the dinners they gave regularly there, a tradition which is carried on today by the Saints and Sinners Club of London.

It is a good excuse to go to Greenwich, although the Naval Observatory there, along with one of the finest Indian restaurants we've seen (it's in the town on the main street - can't miss it) and the actual sailing ship Cutty Sark, which is on display in its entirety on the warf, are additional reasons to go to down the Thames. Even if Greenwich were not so charming, the 'getting there' is more than half the fun. Don't miss the boat ride down the Thames if you go to London.

There is a lot more to see in London. More than we could see on a single visit. But the next day we wandered around a couple of the other neighborhoods and ran into a mystery. Two of them, in fact. If you'd like to see what we discovered, Click here.

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