November 24th, 2007

The London Eye
Okay I have been afraid to go on this monster Ferris wheel ever since they built it. And I finally said oh why not give it a go as I know Brian had been wanting to try it. So decided if I look straight at the horizon and not straight down I should be okay. And guess what!!! I was!!! We had a really fantastic day and the weather was lovely. Cold but lovely.

We were amazed at how quickly it was for the queue to get the tickets and then the queue for the actual ride.


They put you in a line ready for boarding and before you get on the capsules are swept for explosives/and or drugs. Then you board while it is moving. I think they stop it for wheel chair boarding. And you also disembark while it is moving.


The capsules hold 25 people and it takes 30 minutes for it to rotate around to the end. It went quick!!!!


Okay once I got over the initial excitement I started taking some photos. You can see the dome of St. Pauls Cathedral back and to the right.


There is St. Pauls again and the ugly Gherkin(the one that looks like a glass rocket ship).


This is almost looking to the south I would say south west.

Unfortunately the sun was on the side that Big Ben and the houses of Parliament were on. I guess we will just have to go again but early in the morning.


There is St. Paul again.

And this is Charing cross station and the BT tower in the back ground.




I had to play with my levels to get the photo to come out, so sorry about the washed out sky. But here is Big Ben!!!


It was such an amazing thing to be up this high and to see the landmarks like this. I can definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of going on the Eye.


Oh I have these two photos switched. :) This is the one right after we were on top


And this one is right before. It was amazing that you really couldn't feel the motion at all and other than seeing you were going up you wouldn't have known at all by the motion. No ear pops or anything like that. I was so afraid it would be like the cable cars in Austria where you can feel the car moving. This was sooooo smooth.


I think Brian enjoyed it. He had a big smile on his face most of the day.

And to prove I was actually on the Eye! Here I am.


Afterwards we walked along the south bank and had lunch at one of the pubs there, the Founders Arms. It is one of our regular stopping places for refreshments when we are out and about on this side of London. Our two friends(the black headed gulls) are perched on the side of the Millennium bridge.

Unfortunately you couldn't see Tower bridge from the eye, but you can from the Millennium bridge.

And no trip to London(for us anyway) would be complete without a photo of St. Pauls Cathedral. They finally have the scaffolding down!!!