“…when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life…” -Samuel Johnson
It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on here so I thought I would document a very special day at the Tower Bridge Experience which I was taken to by my aunt and uncle, who you may recognize from my post about the Hampton Court flower show in 2018. This was part of my 21st birthday present. I had a fantastic day at Tower Bridge. It was quite windy on the day but it didn’t spoil it at all.
First treat—-we went on the clipper from Greenwich which I always enjoy.
After which we stopped at a restaurant called Vicinity for a hot drink and some delicious garlic rubbed flat bread with dips. Yum.
On to Tower Bridge. There are over 30 bridges across the Thames in London including the famous London and Westminster Bridges, but I believe Tower Bridge is the most well-known and certainly the most spectacular. The bridge is used by something like 40,000 people every day, in vehicles, on bicycles and on foot. Of course, all this traffic has to be halted when the bridge is raised to allow tall ships to sail further along the river.
At each part of the experience there were boards and TV screens telling visitors about how the bridge worked in the past and what it is like in the present day. Seeing the engine room was very interesting although the mechanism is so complex that I can’t say that I really understood it. This bridge was built in Victorian times and I definitely have a great respect for the engineers of those times. Can you imagine there were the log books of the original Victorian workers. These log books were probably replicas but they certainly looked authentic. I also discovered that during WWII a third engine was installed as a precaution against the mass air raids that were devastating London and which came very close to Tower Bridge during the raids on London’s Docklands.
However, I found the most exciting part of the tour was being on the top walkway where a glass floor has been added. We were told that the glass floor was able to hold several elephants. Nevertheless it was an eerie yet hilarious experience standing and watching the city traffic crossing the bridge so far below us.
The views of London from the enchanting walkway on the bridge are amazing.
For the final treat we went to The Coal Shed restaurant.
I had steak,chips, some delicious grilled cabbage and a mocktail to drink, followed by a special birthday sweet treat of chocolate sauce, marshmallow and chocolate coal (dark chocolate truffle). I shelved my healthy eating regime for a day and ate an extra helping of chocolate and cream. 😋😋😋😋 phew I’m stuffed- what a day!
I would recommend the Tower Bridge Experience to anybody. The staff are very friendly, imformative and helpful and there are, of course, facilities and accessabilities for the disabled.
Thank you Chris and Viv xx
BeingGaby 