London- Wednesday

Second last day, and we went to visit the Tower Bridge. I’ve been under it in a boat, way above it in a plane and now we are going to walk across the walkways.

Some Interesting Facts

Tower Bridge has a fascinating history, which is explored in full in Tower Bridge Exhibition. Here’s some to get your started…

1910 - the high-level Walkways, which were designed so that the public could still cross the bridge when it was raised, were closed down due to lack of use.

1912 - during an emergency, Frank McClean had to fly between the bascules and the high-level walkways in his Short biplane, to avoid an accident.

1952 - a London bus driven by Albert Gunter had to leap from one bascule to the other when the bridge began to rise with the number 78 bus still on it.

1977 - Tower Bridge was painted red, white and blue to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee. (Before that, it was painted a chocolate brown colour).

1982 - Tower Bridge opened to the public for the first time since 1910, with a permanent exhibition inside called The Tower Bridge Experience.

(City of London, Tower Bridge site)

And its not cold today, I am actually getting overheated in my coat.

There are glass panels in the walkways so one can look down on the traffic and pedestrians below.

No crowds again, the bonus of being here in winter.

…And, Dear Readers, we found the mirrored ceiling that is missing from our boudoir.

Its on the Tower Bridge so you can take selfies of yourself with the road below.

Says Kim – “How does this work Graham , its a bit too technical for me”

Says Graham,,, “You need to point the camera at the ceiling and look up, silly”

Says Kim… “Ahhh – like this”!

Then it was a stop downstairs to visit the engine room that once produced the steam to raise the bridge –They are not used now,  Its been electric since 1976.

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And then a visit to Harrods to but the 2017 Christmas Bear to add to my collection.

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And Dear Readers! Much excitements as we are going to a Panto at the London Palladium!!!!

Pantomime (informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is still performed throughout the United Kingdom, generally during the Christmas and New Year season and, to a lesser extent, in other English-speaking countries.

Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale.  

It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. (Wikipedia)

    

We laughed and laughed. And with a Panto called Dick Whittington can you just  imagine the Dick jokes?

No plot what so ever..

The costumes were just gobsmacking. Julian Clary must have changed 12 times and each costume was more outrageous than the previous.

All good fun!