Chapter 1 - London

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LONDON EYE
Todays highlight was a ‘flight’ on the London Eye. The Eye dominates the central London Skyline and you travel in a capsule that takes about 30 minutes to do a full loop. Neither of us particularly like heights but we felt fine for the whole trip – which is pretty good considering you are suspended in the air in a glass capsule 135metres (443 ft) above the mighty Thames. On a clear day, and we certainly had one, you can see for 40kms.
Once again we paid a bit extra for priority entry so we could turn up just 15 minutes before our flight and not have to spend a long time queuing – in 28 degrees it was a no brainer! You are in a capsule with around 20 people, there is a bench seat in the middle but most people stand for most of the time. There are plenty of great photo opportunities.
The views over London are spectacular, you get an appreciation of just how vast London is – it just goes on forever. In the distance we could see the arch from Wembley Stadium – looking forward to being there for England v Wales in September!
The Eye is just over the river from Big Ben, Westminster Abbey so you get great views of that area – at the top you get brilliant views of all of the major iconic buildings in London.
After the Eye we walked along the South Bank for one last time, crossed over the Millennium Bridge and after a brief stop at St Pauls to pick up a small souvenir we headed down the Embankment (public area that runs along the North side of the Thames) to Trafalgar Square. When we went earlier it was being set up for a concert so didn’t really get a decent look.
Just before the Square we stopped at the Sherlock Holmes Pub and had a Sherlock Holmes Ale (not too bad, still struggling a bit with the taste of English beers).

TRAFALGAR SQUARE
Much more impressive this time around! The fountains were operating and with the temperature soaring to 28 degrees people we taking full advantage to cool their feet. Hugely impressive statues, the main one being Nelsons Column and the Lions that guard it. The Corinthian Column stands 52m (170ft) high and has a 18ft high statue of Nelson, it was built in 1842 and the four gigantic Lions that ‘protect' the column were added in 1868. There is an impressive array of other statues to-from mermaids to a ship in a very large bottle. It’s London’s biggest and most central square and a really nice public area.

We had a good look around Trafalgar Square before heading for Piccadilly Circus, the famous big electronic sign was having some work done on it so a bit disappointing – probably something you really need to view at night anyway. From there it was off to Regent Street for a wander around, Regent is one of the main central city retail areas – as I’ve said before(and no doubt will again), shopping not really my thing, although the streetscape itself was really impressive. Then we returned to Paddington and walked around the area that has been our base for the past 9 days. Found the end of a canal where a fair few narrow boats were moored. By this time the heat had got the better of us so it was off home and then down to the Victoria for tea.

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Photos

London Eye
On top of the world! London eye offers spectacular views over London

London Eye
Jeanette enjoying the ride, and the views

Trafalgar Square
The Corinthian Column and Nelsons statue tower above Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square
One of the four giant Lions protecting the Cloumn