Expansion of London Freewrite

Walking to the Tower Bridge and the White Tower. I can smell food coming from the restaurants and the fog that is still lingering in the morning air. I hear thousand of footsteps on the sidewalks, cars and buses as the speed by carrying their passengers to and fro, and I can hear many different languages being spoken all at once. I see people of all ethnicity's in shirts that say "I <3 London" walking by with their umbrellas in hand, I see monuments with my own eyes that just two days before I had only seen in pictures, I see rivers, bridges, light posts, traditional phone booths, bicycles for rent, and old buildings mixed in with new buildings. I feel the weight of the morning fog as it falls on my uncovered face, I feel the warmth of my coat against the February chill, I feel my heartbeat quicken as I try to keep up with my husband's pace, I feel the ground beneath the soles of my sneakers, the air created by people passing by on their way to various destinations, and the excitement of visiting a new place. We walk quickly through the streets of London. We are on our way to visit our last destination before we go back to the States the next morning. We are on our way to the Tower Bridge and the White Tower.

As I stand on a "deck" overlooking the Thames River I can see the White Tower and the Tower Bridge in front and off to the right of me. On the left is the new, egg shaped building, 30 St. Mary Axe, but fondly known as the Gherkin. Stone and metal structures made into interesting angles are all around, making a semi-circle around the historic buildings. I catch my breath from walking quickly behind my husband for the last hour or so and I can smell the early afternoon air full of the promise of rain. I have to be careful as I work my way closer to the edge of the "deck" because there are shoots water that come through the stonework on the ground. Walking across the Tower Bridge I can see the amazing architecture of the two castle like towers and the blue cables holding the bridge up. Once across we are by the White Tower, which looks more like a castle than a tower. The Tower of London is inside the White Tower/castle. I think it was a fortress around the Tower of London to keep enemies out and prisoners in. Not something I expected. We climb our way up to a higher location and look back. The scene is no less striking. We stand on the older part of the city looking across the river to the newer, business-like part of the city. Old before the new, new before the old. By this time we have been walking for hours and are hungry, tired, and need to use the "lavatory". The city of London is full of places where "old meets new" but non as spectacular as when the Tower Bridge, White Tower, and  new meet in an artistic masterpiece.