London Day Three: Hilton London Tower Bridge, Borough Market, The Tower of London and The London Eye

Dulles Lounges and United Washington Dulles - London Heathrow
London Day One
London Day Two
London Day Three
London Day Four
Overnight Ferry London - Amsterdam
Amsterdam Day One
Amsterdam Day Two
Lufthansa Amsterdam-Frankfurt/Senator's Lounge Frankfurt/Lufthansa Frankfurt - Dulles

On our third day in London we woke up early to say goodbye to the Raddison Blue Edwardian Mercer Street. We only had two nights reserved on points and did not wish to pay the 200£ a night price for the third night.

Bye Bye Raddison! 

 From the Raddison we headed out on the Tube for the quick 20 min trip to the London Bridge Tube stop and our hotel for one night, The Hilton London Tower Bridge. When you walk into the Hilton London Tower Bridge you are struck with how modern and chic the lobby looks. It is a tiered lobby with 8 little sitting areas for guests to relax. They also had a sushi counter and a full service bar in the back. The restaurant for the hotel was also located in the back of the lobby area, though we did not end up eating there.

We were quickly greeted at the front desk by Michael who pulled up our reservation and thanked us at least five times for being Hilton Gold members and for staying at Hilton hotels. This was a very welcome change from the Raddison which did not recognize the status we had with Club Carlson or even say thanks for staying. I know this is a little nitpicky, but it is always nice to be recognized for your status without asking, it starts your visit off on the right foot. It was only around 10 am and we had planned to just dump our bags with the concierge and then head out for the day but Michael told us that our room was ready for us and that we had been upgraded to an Executive King Room on the 10th floor with access to the Executive Lounge which served breakfast, and afternoon tea and cocktails from 7 am - 11 pm.

Giddy with excitement we headed to the elevators and found our room on the 10th floor. It was twice the size of our room in the Raddison (which I am sure is just because of the relative size of the buildings) and had a huge bathroom with a tub and a separate shower. The living room featured a king bed, a desk and a small seat to lounge on. There was a bureau with a safe to store belongings. The room also featured a mini-bar, which we did not indulge in.

Bed and Sitting Area 

TV and Desk Area

Bureau 

Bathtub (Sorry it's a bit blurry)

Sink and Bathtub

Shower 

 After enjoying the room for a bit we headed out of our hotel for the day. From the hotel we took the short 3 min walk to the London Bridge Tube stop and got off at Waterloo to pick up tickets for the London Eye for that evening. The gigantic Ferris wheel is right on the banks of the river Thames and overlooks the Palace of Westminister and gets you a great view of London from 443 feet up in the air. The ride its self takes around 45 min - 1 hour in a spacious capsule with around 30 other people enjoying the view. There are two different ticket types for the Eye that you can choose from. The standard ticket allows you to use it at anytime of the day and costs 17£. Or you can pay 25£ and get a Fast Track ticket which also allows you to come at any time, but puts you at the front of the line via the Fast Track line...basically think of it as the Priority Line for you elite flyers out there ;). We opted for the Fast Track ticket and planned on heading back around 20 min before sunset for the day to see London at twilight.

From the Eye, if it is a nice day, I would recommend walking along the Thames to enjoy the river and views of the city if affords. We walked for about 20 min until we reached Millenium Bridge which is a pedestrian footbridge (Destroyed by "He Who Must Not Be Named" for the Harry Potter Fans) that goes from the Tate Modern Art Gallery to St. Paul's Cathedral on the other side. Just past the Tate is the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Theatre still runs productions of Shakespeare's works and you can enjoy it in the old style by purchasing tickets for the floor in front of the stage to stand for the whole performance, only 5£. You can also purchase reserved seats for a higher price.

River Thames 

St. Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridget 

From the Globe continue to walk down the Thames until you reach Borough Market. From Monday-Wednesday the market is open for lunch with any cuisine option you can imagine. It swells in size from Thursday to Saturday when the full market features a farmers style market with fresh fish, meat, produce and cheese. It is packed on the weekends, but it is worth it to walk around and try samples of everything you can get your hands on! This was my absolute favorite place when I was studying in London because of the food options and the atmosphere. People are just happy as can be strolling through the market and finding odds and ends to make a perfect lunch in the market. My favorite is a German sausage stand that makes the best sausage and sauerkraut ever. If you are at the market...make a straight line for this stand and get your fill!

Sorry...forgot to take a picture before it was almost gone. :) 

From Borough Market we crossed London Bridge (The reports of it falling down are very exaggerated) and caught our first view of Tower Bridge.  It's important to remember that they are indeed separate bridges.

Tower Bridge from London Bridge 

We boarded the Tube at the Embankment stop and took the short journey to Tower Hill for the can't miss Tower of London. The tower features a beautiful medieval fortress that acted as a royal palace for many years. Some of the towers date back to the thirteen-hundreds and were the home of some of England's most famous characters. If you go to the Tower wait until you can be a part of a guided tour by one of the Yeoman Warders (also known as "Beefeaters"). They are the Royal Bodyguard of the Queen and live in the Tower full time. They are military members with at least 22 years of distinguished military service and are just all around brilliant and hilarious guys. Their tours focus on the history of the tower, including the bloody history of executions and strange disappearances, but they also focus on the beautiful architecture of the Tower and the historical significance for London. That and they are absolutely some of the funniest people on the planet. We were laughing the whole tour and it just made the experience that much better to have such an amazing guide. 

The "White Tower" in the Tower of London

View of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London

After enjoying our time at the Tower of London we walked to Tower Bridge and crossed to head back to our hotel to get ready for the trip back to the London Eye for our evening "flight" as they call it.

We returned to the London Eye around 5:45 just as the sun was setting and quickly got to the front of the line and boarded our pod for the 45 min flight around the Eye. The views were spectacular, despite a light rain coming down. The setting sun made the perfect backdrop over London and we just sat quietly in awe of the beauty that the city of London presents. Below are some of the pictures of Westminster Palace I was able to capture as the ride went on.

After our trip on the Eye we headed back to our the area around our hotel and grabbed a quick dinner before retiring for the night in preparation of our last day in London and to get ready for our night ferry to Holland!