Thursday, April 28, 2011

The London Eye

For the uninitiated, the London Eye is the huge ferris wheel that you see in so many pictures of the city.  It is right across the river from Parliament.  Pods on the wheel accommodate about 25 people each.  Fortunately for us, we did not get there until about 6:30 and most of the students and tourists were gone.  There were only about 15 people in our car.  The wheel moves continuously and takes about 30 minutes to complete a cycle.  Here are some of the views from the pod.
We were on the first capsule after the empty one that is supposedly #13, which they thought no one would get into, so they left it out.

Looking east toward the City.  If you click on this picture, you should be able to see St. Paul's and the "gherkin" the building that Londoners think looks like an upright pickle.

Parliament as seen through the mechanism.  I have another picture, but its not as clear.....
Unfortunately, you have to take pictures through the glass.
This one is looking toward South London.  The tall building with the slanted roof is in Elephant and Castle.
As you can see, there are few really tall buildings in the city.

On the way back, I couldn't resist taking this photo--the old contrasted with the new--as all of London is.
That's a lamppost on Westminster Bridge.  The light was so nice, I also took this one of Big Ben.
Mary and Chuck left this morning for France and I have just two days left in London before I leave on Saturday.  Wish I could stay longer.....

Tomorrow I will be watching the wedding from the comfort of my flat.  London promises to be crazy and you only get a glimpse of the couple on the route, while you can see the whole thing on TV!

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