Embankment Pier

Victorian remains in London

London's chock-full of them

The river walk that runs along the Thames from Westminster Palace to Blackfriars Bridge was built to help the flow of the heavily polluted river in 1870. It was constructed because during a particularly hot summer the smell of the water became unbearable, to the point where MPs had to be evacuated from the Houses of Parliament. At least it's a lot more pleasant now, as the walk takes in the sights of Cleopatra's Needle, the London Eye and Somerset House.