London: Day Three: London Bridge

Yesterday, we finally made it back to our apartment after our l0-hour Harry Potter tour and picked up Kentucky Fried Chicken at Mottingham's business strip (there was gravy but no mashed potatoes or biscuits). But all along, it was apparent Becca wasn't feeling great. On the train ride home, her frequent coughs drew concerned looks from the other passengers.

This morning, she had a fever and didn't look like she could handle a day of sightseeing. Taking into account that I had already visited most of the places on today's plan during previous visits to London, I volunteered to stay home with Becca. All was not lost. Venturing out to find some medicine, I found a huge supermarket and got teary as I walked around it. It was more like an American supermarket than the German ones are and there were items there that I could not find in Germany, such as Cheerios, Sun Chips, bagels, Taste of Lime Doritos, Fig Newtons among others. I bought as much as I could stuff into the basket of Becca's stroller and carry on my shoulder, and felt better about not being able to join the others on their busy day.

The first item on the itinerary was to cross Tower Bridge, as Bridget Jones did every morning and evening in Bridget Jones' Diary.

Walking to the bridge, the Nylund tour group passed City Hall which opened in 2002. The building has an unusual bulbous shape, intended to reduce its surface area and thus improve energy efficiency.

More interesting modern architecture. England's own Prince Charles has been a vocal opponent of non-traditional modern architecture for decades. He once said, "You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe (German Air Force): when it knocked down our buildings it did not replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. We did that."

Emilie keeping a modern sculpture from toppling over

And guess who they should see being interviewed but English business magnate and adventurer Richard Branson, or more correctly Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson.

The kids were disappointed to see the London skyline dominated by construction cranes.

Grandma and Grandpa on Tower Bridge. The bridge is a young one, only 115 years old. Now an undoubted landmark, early 20th century critics wrote overwhelmingly negative opinions such as "It represents the vice of tawdriness and pretentiousness, and of falsification of the actual facts of the structure."

View of the Tower of London from Tower Bridge with the missile-shaped Swiss Re Building (popularly referred to as the Gherkin) in the background.

Battleships on display