MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE LONDON EYE...

Generally, I try and hone in on offbeat, unusual and quirky tourist attractions- but sometimes only mainstream will do!

This is the third time I've been on the London Eye- the first being twenty years ago and the second, ten.  It was a freebie, courtesy of the Sun newspaper!

This photo is taken on terra firma, by the side of the River Thames, overlooking the Houses of Parliament.

Possibly my favourite photo of the day, looking up at the observation wheel...

Hungerford Bridge...

Looking north, and the boat opposite is the PS Tattershall Castle, and is a floating bar/ restaurant.

The Houses of Parliament in silhouette, with the Elizabeth Tower (known as the Clock Tower until it was renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee).  It houses Big Ben, which is the Great Bell of the clock.

View through the pod's construction, taking in Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge. 

Staring south, and there are 32 sealed, air conditioned capsules...  

Looking east towards the City of London, and St Paul's Cathedral is in the dead centre of the photo...

Back south again, and the pods can hold up to 25 people (there were less than that in my pod...)

The white building is the Ministry of Defence...

The winged statue on the bank is the Royal Air Force memorial.

Hungerford Bridge coming out of the mouth of Charing Cross railway station.

You can see the Post Office Tower sticking up- it was once the tallest building in London.

Down on the bank of the Thames, directly between the two bridges, is Cleopatra's Needle.

Looking east and Waterloo Bridge is the next bridge along the river...

This is the first photo I took with the Shard- London's tallest building- popping up...

Looking down at the Jubilee Gardens.

There's no chance of me leaning agaist the door- I'm sure they're secure, but I wouldn't like to put that to the test!

The Shard is 310 metres (1,016 feet) high...

I've visited it before and blogged about it, link:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2017/02/miss-elaineous-gets-taken-up-shard.html

Waterloo railway station visible to the left...

The Fenchurch Building (nicknamed the Walkie-Talkie) is to the far right...

It has a wonderful Sky Garden, which I've visited before and blogged about, link:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2017/03/miss-elaineous-visits-sky-garden-and.html

You can make out St Paul's Cathedral to the left, and One Canada Square (the Canary Wharf tower) just to the right of the Shard...

Near the top, and the other name for the London Eye is the Millenium Wheel.  It was opened in (you guessed it!) 2000 and was, at the time, the world's tallest ferris wheel, standing at 135 metres (443 feet) high. 

At this point we were as high as we could possibly go, and it was baking inside the pod, due to the "greenhouse" effect.  But then the air conditioning came on...

View down the Thames, and beyond Lambeth Bridge westwards...

It was a bright day, thankfully, so we got great views from the pod...

Looking north, and Buckingham Palace sits behind the tree-dense area, with the  Victoria Memorial visible in front of it...

Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge...

County Hall was once the home to the Greater London Council (GLC).  It's now home to Merlin Entertainments, who control various leisure attractions, including the London Eye.

A boat docking into Waterloo Millenium Pier, below.  It's a long time since I've done a boat tour of the Thames, so I'll put it on my to-do list.

This attraction is definitely worth a go if you're in London, but do look for discounted tickets- they charge £29 on their website and I'm not sure it's worth that for a 30 minute experience.

Until next time,

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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