Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge
One of London's most familiar landmarks, Tower Bridge was completed in 1894 to ease congestion on London Bridge. Because of the reduction in shipping the roadway is today raised only infrequently to allow vessels through, but it is an impressive sight when it happens.
For those not content with admiring its Gothic silhouette from a distance, an imaginative tour - the "Tower Bridge Experience" - around the bridge's innards should be just the thing. Characters from the bridge's past - spookily brought to life by some ultra realistic animatronics - act as other worldly guides, narrating the hows, whys and wherefores of this once controversial structure. However, the 20th century wizardry is all but eclipsed by the Victorian technology on show in the Engine Rooms. Two massive steam engine pumps which once powered the famous drawbridge over the Thames are accompanied by equally gargantuan toolkits and there's what looks suspiciously like a school dinner gong on display in the engineer's gallery. Taking in both North and South Towers, the 'Experience' also provides access to the two glassed-in walkways, which link them. The spectacular views up and down river more than repay the climb up several staircases to reach them (a lift is available for disabled visitors) and there are even little camera windows so visitors can get that perfect shot of St Paul's.
