London Bridge isn't falling down....
At least, this one isn't. The last one (built in 1831) was slowly sinking through the weight of traffic, although the song refers to the bridge that was there around 1100AD. Anyway, we sold that bridge to the Americans, in the Arizona desert no less. Rumour has it that they thought they were buying Tower Bridge which would make a lot more sense out of hte purchase price in 1968 of $2.5M. They bought the water later. The 1830 bridge had replaced the medieval one, which had many arches, blocked the flow of the river and was very dangerous to navigate. (By special request for Andy)
Come back tomorrow for a juicy bit of London Bridge trivia.
posted by Ham at 12:05 --
Comments here: 9
Comments on "London Bridge isn't falling down...."
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Eric said ... (06:28) :
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Rodney said ... (07:28) :
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Ham said ... (07:51) :
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Anonymous said ... (08:22) :
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Ham said ... (11:45) :
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Eric said ... (14:41) :
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Ham said ... (15:25) :
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Anonymous said ... (17:10) :
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Rob said ... (23:15) :
post a commentGood question Manuel, I had the same. And how do boats go under this bridge?
Great Photo! I will look to your site for advice on places to visit in London. Thanks
Can you please add a link to my blog. Thank You
http://ocdailyphoto.blogspot.com
Mauel, Eric - that is the Gherkin which you would know if you had been paying attention. Plus, if you look just to the right, you will see The Monument.
Gherkin looks like a cucumber more than an egg to me - if we're talking of the same monument.
I've read an article about it, sounds like a great ecological achievement...
Ham, Eric's right, how do boats go under this bridge? ;)
There are three ways boats go under the bridge:
1) The can fit under it all the time, even at high tide. In this category are the excursion boats, barges etc etc
2) They can fit under it at low tide - there is about 8m difference in height. When they built the London Eye, the big bits were shipped in by river. For the biggest, they had to choose the lowest tide and there was 40mm (!!) of clearance with the lowest bridge, and a window of about 1 hour to get through...
3) They don't. Tower Bridge is next one downstream and that's the one that opens up. Just inside that is where the big ships stop (and, will become the subject of other days posts)
Gee....I feel duly disciplined for not paying attention in November. Hope it's still okay to ask questions Ham. Will try to be a good student in the future.
Good... good. I'll be asking questions later (Quick check to make certain I did delete the start of the last comment, "Doesn't anyone pay attention?")
Actually, I find it interesting looking back to that photo of the gherkin, it seems it was taken a long while ago now. Plus, that old Fuji camera left a lot to be desired on the quality front.
No doubt some of us American tourists go to Arizona, thinking we'll see the Tower Bridge, too, so maybe he didn't waste his money ...
I'll be in London in March. Hope to see some of these sights!