The Very Old and the Very New

Walking The River Thames and The Tower of London

Central London is now our backyard!

I still can’t quite process that Sidney and I are Londoners for the month. Although we have gotten a little familiar with the overall layout of the city over the past few days, we still have an overwhelming amount of things to see and do.

Yesterday, we decided to start with the basics and head to a few of the main tourist attractions in the city: The Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London is a castle that sits on the north bank of the River Thames, which is the river that cuts directly through the middle of the city.

There are plenty of castles all around the country, but this particular castle holds extreme significance in England’s history.

The central structure known as “The White Tower” was originally constructed by William the Conqueror in 1078 after his army invaded the region and claimed the land from the Anglo-Saxons.

The White Tower dominated the London skyline for centuries, and although it was seen as a symbol of oppression for much of that period, it is an incredible connection to history and it’s remarkable to see it still standing.

What really amazed me was seeing such an old and historic building juxtaposed with the brand new skyscrapers in London’s Financial District, which is located just behind The Tower of London.

As we headed east down the river, we got our best view yet of London’s most famous bridge. This structure is known as Tower Bridge, and was constructed between 1886 and 1894.

Ironically, this bridge is mistakenly referred to as “London Bridge” quite often, but London Bridge is located about a half a mile west on the river (and is honestly quite dull when compared to Tower Bridge).

The towers are connected by two catwalks on the top, which can be accessed as a part of the extremely overpriced tour. Walking over the bridge is completely free, and has stunning views of the Financial District to the west, and Canary Wharf to the east.

We could also see the building known as “The Shard” during our entire walk around the castle and the bridge. The Shard is the tallest building in the UK at 1,016 feet. We have been spoiled the past few years by living near the Willis Tower in Chicago, which is 1,450 feet, so the spectacle around the building’s height was somewhat lost on us.

However, the architecture is quite stunning. It literally looks like a giant shard of glass! Skyscrapers aren’t as common in Europe as they are in the US, so this is quite a unique structure for this region of the world.

After a walk down the south bank of the river, we cut through the financial district and stopped at an awesome little pub called Hoop and Grapes. They claim to be the oldest pub in the city that is still standing!

Whether that is true or not, I honestly have no idea. But either way, they have been around since the late 17th century, and they make a mean fish n’ chips!

We closed out the day by walking all the way back to our AirBnB. We are surprisingly close to the heart of the city, and I am now convinced we can walk just about anywhere if we wanted to!

As we’re heading out today, we’re planning on some more sightseeing further west on the river, and a walk across the Covent Garden district. I still feel like we have barely scratched the surface of this seemingly endless city, and I am looking forward to exploring every mile of it we can manage (since we’re here, I should really start measuring in meters!)

Until next time 👋