LONDON! Day 10: Thames Riverboat Part 1

Roz took pity on our poor legs and let them get a little extra sleep in the morning. We met her down in Westminster to take a tour boat ride. Three things happened that morning:

1. It was the first nice, bright and sunny day.
2. My allergies went into overdrive.
3. I forgot my sunglasses.

Yeah. Kinda not fun at times but it was a great ride on the boat! Right off the bat, our narrator tells us he is not an actual tour guide, just a member of the crew so, as he put it "If I get anything wrong, tough." He was very good at his job of not-the-tour-guide.

First off, an old friend. My, but it is a pretty tower.

This is the Ladies' Bridge, named that because it was built during the war when most men were off fighting so the construction was 80% female. And as our non-guide put it "You can tell it was made by women because it leans to the left, has a big chink in the middle but I must say, ladies, it does have some nice curves."

I love America, I really do but we just don't have architecture like this! And these are apartments!

These are some very cool supports from a bridge that was dismantled. I liked them.

This picture shows two things: the Gherkin and the Millennial Bridge. The Gherkin is the tall building in the center. Gherkin is the German word for cucumber (or maybe it's pickle?) as it looks just like one. I thought it was the coolest place! And the Bridge was built for the Millennium, obviously. It was christened by the Queen on a Wednesday and then closed on Friday because it wobbled too much. As we were passing under, the people on the bridge all waved to us. Our non-guide informed us it was bad luck not to wave back and he had seen it first hand when a young man was crossing the bridge, waved and no one waved back. Here the non-guide says "he was also carrying a strawberry milkshake...(pause)...that was about the funniest thing I've seen in my life." But I bet it was a mess to clean up!

This is actually London's City Hall. The new mayor has made some controversial decisions and building this place was one of them.

And the legendary Tower Bridge! Have you heard the story about the Americans from Arizona who bought the London Bridge? Well, this was the bridge they though they were getting!

Continued next time!