Tower Bridge is one of those rare landmarks that actually earns its postcard status. Completed in 1894 after eight years of construction, the Victorian Gothic towers and their connecting walkways span the Thames at one of the river's most historically charged points — just downstream from the Tower of London, which gave the bridge its name. It was designed to allow tall-masted ships to pass through while still carrying road traffic, a dual purpose solved by the famous bascule mechanism that can lift the roadway in under two minutes. The bridge still raises its arms around 800 times a year, and if you time your visit right, watching those massive counterweights swing is genuinely impressive.
Monument