A symbol of the City of the London. I saw this bridge from the bus tour during my onward flight transit and it was stunning beautiful in lights. So i thought of visiting this place again during my return flight transit as well. As flight delayed 1.5 hours from Dallas the transit time in London reduced to 6 hours and i was unsure if UK Immigration will let me inside. On top of that there were huge crowd in Immigration queue.
Many flights arrived on same time and i was standing 13th line from immigration counter. Each line has around 50+ people and it took nearly 50 minutes for me to reach the immigration officer. He was looking at my boarding pass and asked me are you sure which Terminal you need to come back ? I said its Terminal 5. That’s all no more questions. I think he just checked if i had plans to come back or not with that question. Then he stamped and asked me to move in. Had only about 4.5 hours and i had to visit and come back.
I confused London Bridge with this Tower Bridge. When i used google maps i found there was a station named ‘London Bridge Underground’ and had train connections from Heathrow Terminal 2&3 station. So i took a same day return ‘Underground’ ticket from . It costs 12GBP. The train also arrived in 5 minutes as soon as i reached. Its 1 hour ride each way. I had to take Piccadilly Line to Green Park Station and then Jubilee Line to London Bridge. Too many people as it seems everyone was rushing to office. Once i came out of London Bridge Station i was roaming around and i do not see the tower i was looking for. So i asked a police there and she told me to go on a direction further and that was London Bridge. I was disappointed as i thought London Bridge is what Tower Bridge is. Then i keep walked to London Bridge and found it was the amazing place to view the Tower Bridge. Those were next to next bridges and it was nice view from here.
Then i took walk from one end of London Bridge along the riverside walk way of Thames river to Tower Bridge. There was a attraction named ‘Tower of London’ at the one end of this bridge. Then i had to pass it to enter the bridge. The bridge is open for public use and traffic goes inside it. There were enough walk way for pedestrians. When i reached the center of the bridge i saw the ticket counter for entering into the Bridge inside part. There were many school children standing already for their turn. I do not have enough time to stand in queue and enter so i had to move. Kids were so cute and they wave to the people who walk aside with smile. And that was super cute.
Then and at another end of bridge i took the steps to get down to other end of Thames river which has similar walk way towards London Bridge. This walkway also filled with many shops and nice view of River Thames. Pretty long walk and finally i am back to London Bridge Underground station and then followed the same route to reach back Airport.
I took same day return ticket from Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3 station. But i got down at Heathrow Terminal 5 as my flight to Bangalore starts from there. There was no issue the machine accept my ticket and allowed me to come out of Underground Station. It seems like a single ride costs 6GBP irrespective of where we travel even though location printed on the ticket.
Came 2 hours earlier to departure and was no issues in crossing security and reach to gate. Wish my flight was on time and i could have seen inside of Tower Bridge as well.
