We had a few days in London before heading off to Paris. So of course, one of the must do things in London is ‘The London Eye’. What a great way to get a birds eye view of London. For those that don’t know the London Eye is an observation ferris wheel.
We caught the bus rom Piccadilly Circus (stop F). It’s about a 20 min drive down past Big Ben and across the thames river to our stop near the St Thomas Hospital (stop E). From there it was a short walk to the London Eye. We were booked for a 10am flight, as they call it, and had to arrive at least 30 minutes before we were due to board our capsule.
Just a little bit of Info about the London Eye
Up until 2013 when the observation deck on the 72nd floor of the Shard opened, the London Eye was the worlds tallest ferris wheel. It’s 443ft (135 metres) tall and has a diameter of 394ft (120 metres). There are 32 sealed and, thankfully, air-conditioned capsules.
The wheel rotates at slowly at a rate of 10″ (26cm) per second and one whole revolution takes around 30 minutes. It generally doesn’t stop as it is slow enough for passengers to walk on and off the moving capsule when it’s at ground level. There are considerations for elderly and disabled passenger though, and the wheel’s rotation is stopped to allow them to safely get on and off.
And Then it’s our turn
Our turn finally came and we hopped into our capsule with the other passengers who had been allocated the same one. I can’t help but feel excited. What a great way to get a birds eye view of London.
The day was fairly overcast day…it is London after all…but we even so we still got a great view of the city. As I said before, the trip takes about 30 minutes and even though you are stuck in the capsule with about 20 other people, there is plenty of room to look out and move around to take in the views and take photos of the view.
This is a picture of Chilli, the stuffed dog that the girls at work gave us to take on our travels. Like me, he was really enjoying himself. What an adventure he was having, first Singapore and now London, and at no cost to himself.
Dismal London Weather
As you can see, it really was a dismal day and not conducive to getting good photos. But hey when you are in one of the world’s historic capitals on the worlds largest Ferris Wheel, you just have to get those shots regardless.
I can’t stress enough how this is one of those “must do’s” when you visit London.
Overlooking the Thames and Big Ben. The weather was a bit dodgy so the photos aren’t as nice as they could have been. But the view was really awesome.
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