our room at the Premier Kensington Inn, where we
spent the nights of 18-19 Dec

 Our neighbor for the next two nights: St. Paul's Cathedral

Dana in front of St. Paul's

statue of Queen Anne
in front of St. Paul's

Matt in front of the
Queen Anne statue

the City Information Centre

the south side of St. Paul's

Dana finds a rose

on the platform at the
St. Paul's tube station

Dana on London Bridge,
with Tower Bridge behind her

 the London Bridge train
and underground station

We wandered into the "Tooley
Street Shops," a market
in "London Bridge City."

Matt with the Swiss Re
Tower behind him

The HMS Belfast is moored in the Thames in front of City Hall.

The Belfast is the last surviving big gun World War II
ship in Europe.

Dana with Tower Bridge

the Tower of London, as seen from across the Thames

City Hall was designed to
lean away from the river...

...to prevent it from casting
shade on walkers below.

Tower Bridge is undergoing a three-year restoration process.

Large sections of the bridge
are scaffolded and are
being blasted and painted.

Dana cranks the wheel
of a penny-squisher that
imprints a Tower Bridge
design on your coin.

a view from inside
the Tower Bridge

City Hall on the left; the London
Eye in the center distance

the HMS Belfast at lower left;
St. Paul's Cathedral at upper right

pointing the camera down,
to see through the grate...

...because the span of the bridge has opened to allow a ship to pass.

There's the Tower of London,
and the Swiss Re Tower
at upper right.

The Swiss Re is affectionately known as "the gherkin."

We walked the full length
of both viewing platforms.

looking up into one of the two actual towers of the bridge

a small Christmas display
inside one of the Towers

Dana peers into one of the
old steam accumulators...

...which used to power the engines to raise the
bascules of the bridge.

Matt in the bridge's
old engine room

The bascules have always
been operated with hydraulics,
and still are today.