London Bridge

You're standing on London Bridge. It may not look like much, but there has been a bridge on this spot for almost two thousand years, ever since the Romans founded the city. According to the Norse sagas, one of the early bridges was pulled down by a Norwegian. In 1014, Olav Haraldsson, who later became King of Norway, is said to have tied ropes from his ships to the bridge and rowed away until it collapsed. Some say that's where the nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down comes from. It's a legend, but a good one. Later came a stone bridge that stood for about six hundred years. It was crowded with houses, some of them six storeys high. Above its gatehouse, the heads of traitors were displayed on poles. Among them were William Wallace and Thomas More. The bridge before this one ended up across the Atlantic. In 1968 it was sold to an American businessman and shipped, stone by stone, to a desert town in Arizona, where it still stands. Look downstream. That's Tower Bridge, the one people often mistake for London Bridge. Next stop: the Monument, about 400 metres or 5 minutes. Cross to the north side and walk up Fish Street Hill. Look for the golden flames.