Week 22

Because we are in week 22 now, because my head has officially stopped spinning from our move (I can tell because I am starting to think about working again instead of furniture and throw pillows), and because I feel ridiculously embarrassed by how much of London I actually haven’t seen, I have assigned myself the exercise of taking a weekly Wednesday morning tour of some new (to me) location in London.  Poor me really.  This week I sat down with the guidebooks on Tuesday evening and after going through them for an overwhelming 2 hours while Keegan had some drinks with a friend, I finally decided upon on a suggested walk around the Tower of London and over Tower Bridge.  The next morning, I started the foot tour pretty much as planned, halfway over the bridge, up the Towers and over the Tower walkways.  Once I completed the Bridge tour though, ultimately, the guidebook found its way to the bottom of my backpack and I pretty much put the camera up to my eye and let the lens do the walking.  I diverted down through the Shad Thames {a totally cool historic warehouse district} toward the aptly placed Design Museum {returning there for another day trip for sure}, then back to City Hall on the other side of the Tower Bridge, along the Thames to London Bridge, and finally culminating at the Borough Market.  The wind along the water was completely bone chilling and the rain came and went (and came and went), but what a brilliant time I had with myself.  London is a great freaking city.  I’ll let the images do the talking from here:  

{I just love the juxtaposition of the modern forms with the cobblestoned texture of the Tower)

Certainly for me, as an architecture graduate, the highlight of Tower Bridge was climbing up and down the 2 towers and of course, the Engine Rooms down below where the inner workings of the original lifting machinery are visible.  Whoa.

Moving on to Shad Thames:
Ummm....I kind of want to live here....

Outside of City Hall and the surrounding buildings:

The Shard is a pretty cool piece of Architecture, I must say.  It looms overhead so powerfully, omnipotently almost.  I was going in and out of buildings, underneath bridges, around alleyways, gritty areas, historic areas, it didn't matter ... I would look up and it was always peeking down on me.

My tour stopped here when I broke for lunch at one of the Borough street vendors.  Pretty much, if you are cooking a pig on an open fire in front of me and offer it on crusty bread with homemade applesauce for only five pounds, I will never turn you down.  Damn, I am still salivating over that thing.  Is it lunchtime yet?!