Soaring Above The City Landscape
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Recommendation added: 28/05/2006 19:38
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +816)dewberry has been thanked 3 times for this contribution
"During a recent couple of days in London, we decided to take a trip on the London Eye and see what all the fuss is about. The receptionist at our hotel advised us to arrive fifteen minutes before the ticket office opened at 9.30am to avoid the worst of the queues. Apparently, the London Eye gets busier as the day goes on so I'd definitely recommend visiting as early in the morning as possible particularly if you have small children as sometimes the queues to get into a capsule can last for over an hour after you've bought your ticket.
We duly arrived at County Hall, which is the building next to the London Eye, at 9am and actually managed to be fourth in the queue which meant we'd be on one of the very first capsules to go up that day. Queues were orderly and staff dealt with visitors in strict orders, with no reason good enough for someone to shove in front of anyone else. This was shown to good effect when a young girl tried to push in the queue in front of the lady before me, a member of staff came straight over and got her back into her place towards the end of the line and no excuses were listened to
!
After buying our tickets we waited approximately 35 minutes to board a capsule, it's a nice wait though just watching the wheel slowly spinning before you get on. Each capsule can hold up to 25 people, but presumably because of the early hour there weren't too many people waiting so there were only 12 in our capsule. This was great because there was plenty of room to walk around and lots of standing room alongside the windows to make the most of the view. Simple bench seating is available in the capsule, which having a bit of a 'thing' about heights was welcomed by me as we approached the top sweep of the wheel! Because the capsule is basically made of uninterrupted glass, it's very light and airy and makes good use of natural sunlight.
The views are absolutely breathtaking. As I said, I'm very nervous of heights but the scenery below was so amazing that I was soon standing along the wall of the capsule and all thoughts of 'what would happen if the capsule dropped' were banished from my head. As your capsule makes the turn around the wheel, you'll see stunning panoramas of the London skyline and spot buildings which you see everyday on the news from a whole new angle. Considering the Eye is the sixth tallest structure in London (beaten only by the three Canary Wharf Towers, the BT Tower and Tower 42) you can see across massive distances and generally take in the prettiness of London from the air. The 'best' thing which I spotted was St Paul's Cathedral which is magnificent when viewed from such a height; it's more imposing even than it looks from ground level and is a seriously beautiful structure. I also enjoyed watching more and more of the River Thames come into view as we rose into the air unlike a Ferris Wheel, the capsules are attached on the outside of the wheel and this really does make for some spectacular views particularly when your capsule is as the extreme top of the wheel!
A ride on the London Eye takes approximately 30 minutes from start to finish, which in my opinion is the perfect length of time to take in everything. The wheel turns very slowly which is great because (as someone who doesn't like heights) it's not a sudden lurch from terra ferma to head in the clouds! A gentle rise means passengers can get acclimatised to the massive height, and to be honest by the time the Eye is even a quarter of the way through its upward climb you'll be so intrigued by the scenery that you won't even notice the gap between capsule and ground.
As there is no commentary in the capsule, it's well worth buying a comprehensive guide book before you board. This contains a map and historical information about various buildings, a real boon when it came to working out exactly what I was looking at in the distance.
When we got off the capsule, we went back into County House for a look around. Here is the London Eye gift shop. Although fairly expensive, there are some lovely unusual souvenirs and gifts. As we'd not brought the kids on our trip to London, I decided to buy them a small memento of our visit and eventually chose (after three full circuits of the shop) a British Airways teddy with an embroidered London Eye t-shirt. These small teddies cost £8 each and the toys are of fantastic quality, they made a really cute gift for our two daughters. I also bought a small model of the Eye and a couple of postcards to give the kids when we got back.
We grabbed a quick coffee and pastry from Costa Coffee which is located inside County House, and the de-stressing coffee was very welcome after being 'trapped' 135 metres above ground level!
The Eye is fully accessible to disabled visitors; with ramps and wider doorways at all points in both the wheel area and in County House. If you're planning to visit with a baby be warned that you will have to leave your pushchair or pram on the ground, although you can ask to borrow a complimentary baby carrier from reception.
There are two ways of buying your tickets for the London Eye. You can do as I did and buy them at the door, this way an adult ticket will cost you £13 and a child's tickets is £6.50 with various concessions available for OAPs and disabled visitors. Alternatively you can book online at the London Eye site (www.londoneye.com) and save 10% on the price of your tickets, bringing an adult ticket down to £11.50. An added bonus of booking online is the fact that when you arrive you simply need to use the ticket collection machine instead of waiting in line to pay for your tickets.
To find the London Eye isn't hard, in fact you can see this immense wheel from a long way away so in theory you could follow the direction by foot and get there eventually! We visited on the tube as although we'd brought our car to London, I'd been advised by our hotel that parking was a nightmare in the SE1 area with very few public car parks having spaces during the working day. We got off the tube at Waterloo and followed the signs for the South Bank, a leisurely early morning walk which took us around five minutes. Also easily accessible by bus, you need to jump on the 24, 211 or 11 all of which will drop you more or less in front of the wheel.
If you're ever in London with an hour to spare, visit the London Eye. This was my first trip to the capital and I really do think it was enhanced by being able to get such a brilliant bird's eye view of the city. Including our admission tickets, and purchases we spent around £45 so while definitely not the cheapest attraction I've visited, it wasn't the one which broke the bank either. A definite five star London attraction.
The London Eye
Riverside Building
County Hall
Westminster Bridge Road
London
SE1 7PB
Tel 0870 9908883"
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