Before I start, I revisited Buckingham Palace yesterday to see the changing of the guards. This time I wasn’t ill! There’s a new album for this and a video that I will post shortly.
The London Eye
“Since opening in March 2000 The London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year. A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye’s capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions.”
Today was my first ‘flight’ on the infamous London Eye. There was a huge queue to get in but it did go quickly and before I knew it I was entering the glass capsule. At first it doesn’t seem exciting. You are still looking at the sides of the buildings, hardly above their roof tops. It’s not until you reach a quart of the way up that you get the full affect. There is no longer anything directly above you, nor directly below you. As long as you don’t look at the wheel itself you seem temporarily suspended in the air. Continuing around the wheel you reach the top. You have an excellent view of south London as well as a look to the west (home, I think I can see you!) An excellent view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul’s can be seen to the north east and Waterloo Station to the East. Check out the gallery for lots and lots of pictures of flight #1. In just over a week I’ll be going up again with my awesome sister!! She’ll be here in a week. I’m so excited!!
If all goes well I’ll be attending Phantom of the Opera Monday evening for a friend’s birthday. I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
I wasn’t satisfied with just walking across Tower Bridge. I had to do more. Rising out of bed early Sunday morning I headed back down to the City. There is a ‘Tower Bridge Exhibition’ in which you can go up inside the towers and walk across the walkways. Of course I wanted to do it! When I arrived I was confronted with NO line. I determined it was either to early on a Sunday morning or this was a very unpopular attraction. Afterwards I vote number 2. After scanning my book bag, a common thing around here I was whisked 4 stories into the air and released into the north tower. There was a short video on the bridge and why it was constructed. I then walked across the walkway to the south tower, taking pictures along the way. In the south tower there was another video on the construction of the bridge followed by a walk down the west walkway and back into the south tower where I descended the endless staircase back to road level. Next was a walk through the engine rooms which used to power the lifting mechanisms by steam and hydraulic pressure. This was along the south bank of the river. Check out the pictures, I like this part the best!
I had originally planned to go through the HMS Belfast(naval museum) next but I decided to go through City Hall which is adjacent to Tower Bridge since it was open house in London. Many of the buildings were open to the public this weekend. I could find a listing of open buildings so this was the only one I attended. I tried the Bank of England but sadly they were working, ON A SUNDAY! Back to City Hall…You’re whisked to the 9th floor which is called London’s Living Room. Its a large open area at the top of City Hall with a large open area the entire way around the building. I walked around there for a while taking pictures. There’s no better place than here to see the city and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Descending from the top was done by the huge spiral staircase.
Again, not a lot going on this week, just a walking tour for my one class and the London museum later today. I’ll post details for that and get class info up either tomorrow or Wednesday. Take a look at the pictures of course, they’re up!
There was no better time than today to check out one of London’s many parks. I found myself exiting the Green Park Underground station to trees and grass!!! It has been so long since I’ve seen vast expanses of grass. I didn’t spend much more than a half hour there as the weather turned rather British once again and I went to seek shelter on the tube.
This past Sunday a couple of us went to check out Platform 9 3/4. I guess it’s a Harry Potter thing, I don’t really know! HA HA! It was cool none the less. After that we did some walking around Oxford Street and Kensington High Street. We finished up the day by heading to a sports bar in Piccadilly Circus to catch some of the Steelers game. Supposedly the storms had knocked out the signal from New York. So no Steelers anywhere in the UK, boo!
There’s a couple new albums added. Make sure to check them out.
EDIT- I’ll get the Comments section working when I can. They’re being dodgey at the moment.
