Thames River Cruise...

After our hasty exit from the Tower of London, we made our way to the Thames River Cruise boarding area and soon found our seats on the boat. I am going to be brutally honest here...the Thames is NOT a lovely river. It's just not. It is located in the middle of the largest city in the UK making it an urban river, and urban rivers are, well, urban rivers. But the history and scenery on the cruise were eerily familiar, like a barely remembered dream. Or more likely familiar because we had seen much of it a day or two before from a bus or tube.




Our tour guide was a typical Brit--with tongue in cheek humor--laughing quietly at us because we were going to be stuck with him for the duration of the boat ride. We were ok with it until he started throwing a few insults at us, again, in a friendly sort of way. Obligingly, he told us he would speak slowly since we were Americans. Cheeky bugger. At this point, we didn't have too many options so we decided to grin and bear it. It's a good thing these girls all have such cute grins...

Behind us was the Tower Bridge--ahead of were, well, more bridges...and a few other interesting sights, which our tour guide pointed out to us, slowly, which was good because the boat was slow, too.  (by this point, he was totally not getting a tip from me)

               This, my friends. is the famed London Bridge. Personally, I was a little underwhelmed.

The London Millennium Bridge, sometimes known as the Millennial Bridge or the Wobbly Bridge. (I am totally not joking here)  When it was opened to the public it swayed in a very disconcerting manner as traffic and pedestrians crossed over it. So they closed it for the next couple of years while they attempted to fix it. Happily for us, this problem had been addressed and corrected 'way before we crossed it.

The Westminster Bridge with Westminster and Big Ben on one side and the London Eye on the other.

I pretty much love this picture because of the strategic appearance of the double-decker bus.






And I love this picture of the same bridge with its more dramatic lighting and you can clearly see the lampposts. What you cannot see are all the locks that are attached to the bridge, the custom of which is explained in this post:
http://mythotfulspot-karen.blogspot.com/2014/06/uk-trip-day-4b.html










View of the city from the port side of our boat. I am sorry I cannot tell you which side of the Thames this is but I have a well-deserved reputation for being directionally challenged.




                                                 Modern architecture in London...

                         And some historical buildings, none of which I can confidently identify...

Old and new juxtaposed:

Several views of the Eye of London...to this day I am not sure whether I am disappointed or relieved that we didn't choose to take a spin on that ginormous ferris wheel, since I am both a bit claustrophobic as well as afraid of heights.

 

The Palace of Westminster which houses the Parliament. Big Ben is located outside the picture, to the right. Westminster is really big, just sayin'. And isn't it gloriously ostentatious!

And here is where we disembarked, ready for the next adventure, which had a little something to do with refreshments, as it was nearing teatime.

day 5aa