Today in London we visited The Shard, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Katherine Docks and Old Spitalfields Market.

We woke up refreshed after a great day in London yesterday visiting the British Museum and the Gherkin.

The Shard

Our first port of call was to visit the viewing platform at the Shard.

The Shard is a 95-storey skyscraper and is 309 metres high. It is the tallest building in the United Kingdom.

We took two lifts and a few flights of stairs to get to the viewing platform. The views were mesmerising, we could see all of London’s attractions including the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and Tower of London.

There was a virtual reality experience at the top which gave the user the sense that they were on a giant slide over London’s skyline. Hayley had to have a go.

It was quite funny to watch her squirm as the seat moved underneath her.

Tower Bridge

Leaving the Shard behind us, we then made our way to Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge was built in 1894 and is one of London’s famous landmarks. The bridge is 240 metres in length and the both towers are 65 metres high.

We had a great view of London and the Thames from here. But it started raining pretty heavy at this point so we had little time to fully appreciate it.

Tower of London

After we crossed the bridge we visited The Tower of London. This fortress was founded in 1066 during the Norman Conquest of England.

There were a number of things for us to see here including the tower ravens and Execution Tower.

But like most people who come to the tower, we what we really wanted to see was the Royal Armoury in the White Tower and the Crown Jewels.

The Royal Armoury is based over several floors and contains swords, muskets, armour and war trophies from throughout British history.

We then queued for nearly 30 minutes to see the Crown Jewels. You weren’t allowed to take photos of the crowns, maces and trinkets, but they were very impressive to look at nonetheless.

St. Katherine Docks

Departing from the Tower of London we strolled over to St. Katherine Docks.

Between 1828 to 1968 St. Katherine Docks were part of the Port of London. Nowadays the area hasbeen redeveloped and is nowa popular residential and leisure area.

We had a nice pint here while waiting for the rain to stop.

Old Spitalfields Market, London

For our final stop in London we made our way to the Old Spitalfields Market.

This covered market dates back for over 350 years and sells crafts, clothes, food and drink. All the items were very tempting, I could have eaten everything on offer.

It was then back to Paddington to get our train back to Swansea. We had an amazing weekend in London and hope to get back up here soon.

Enjoyed this blog? Then remember to leave a comment. You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. Have a look at our photos on Instagram and Flickr. And watch our videos on YouTube.