View from the eye:

http://home.everestkc.net/ckigar/castle1_023.html

http://home.everestkc.net/ckigar/castle1_023.html

It IS a good point not to drink an ale at one on the nearby pubs before embarking on your revolution... it kind of distracts from the view...

I thought the trip was well worth the 12.50 that is the current price

If it's anything like the London Eye it's definitely well worth building IMHO.

Remove any thoughts of it being a ride from your head. It's a moving observation platform which will take you higher than anything else in the vicinity.

Obviously I can't talk for its impact in another place, but to Londoners it was incredible when it was first erected. Walking from Waterloo station and suddenly getting your first sight of something that dwarfs the Houses of Parliament and the clock tower across the river, and the National Theatre nearby. All the local landmarks suddenly shrink in your perception as this alien wheel rises out of nowhere in the tightly packed South Bank streets.

Or in my case, riding in a taxi along the Embankment on our way to a work do. We were all already quite drunk (and the rest) and had been talking non-stop from Acton. Then came the first sight of the wheel - silence until we lost sight of it some 5 minutes later. Probably a personal reaction for me as I played in Jubilee Gardens (the park where it is) as a child.

On a reasonably clear day I'd challenge anyone with even a vague interst in the London cityscape not to be thrilled by a trip, regardless of expense.

Pre-booked tickets in bad weather must be disappointing though.

ckigar - great pics :)

Ferris wheels never were "rides" per se, were they? They've always been slow moving sightseeing platforms, even if the only sight to see is the rest of the fair.

Ferris wheels are fun, but I like them to be faster. You want the ride to be more than one slow revolution. You want it to go round and round and round for a few minutes. And you can see so far from the top! It's best when you know the place where you are doing the ride, because you get to see the usual things from a new perspective. Kind of like the Cellar.

Thankyou!

Yes maybe not the best weather to go on the eye but my time left in London was limited... had quite a surreal experience however in a small plastic bubble immersed in thick fog. Right in the middle we popped out the top of the fog and saw the top of the Houses of Parliament.

It was also, historically, a place for a lady to fake fear and hold (grope) her beau while maintaining propriety. ;)
And for gentlemen to take advantage of that to steal a kiss.


@SydneyBoy, how far ahead were they booked?

For some women (and men) there's no faking the fear as you go up in those creaky baskets.

OK wink, wink:D

I swear I used to be good at heights when I was a kid and even in my 20's, but I took the kids on a freaking chair lift ride a year ago and I nearly shat myself.

Never again!

Often age brings wisdom, or at least brings responsibility that leads to wisdom. ;)

We had a huge, non mobile one in NYC, but it got knocked down - Now we're stuck with the Empire State Building - LOVE to see a Ferris Wheel that could top THAT

Good point - I think in London terms :)

There's a pre-digital-camera-era photo of me at the top of the Empire State Building. My ex & I held our grins and our tempers for quite a while in sub zero temperatures while a stranger faffed about with our camera.

The chap worked out how to use it the split second I decided he was never going to - I had a lovely photo of X grinning like it was Christmas, and a slightly blurred, thoroughly cold and pissed off SG looking like a spoiled princess.

We didn't book, just turned up on the day. Probably should book if its good weather though. And in retrospect, I think we paid 26 pounds all up, meaning it was only 13 pounds each.

Which is still too much for a broke aussie boy. Damn the british pound!

Out of interest - do the British not want to adopt the Euro simply because the pound makes them feel immensely rich whenever they leave their country?

I couldn't give you the financial pros & cons of joining the Euro - although more financially astute friends of mine believe its a Bad Idea.

But the knee jerk public reaction is tied in with a sense of national identity. We buy good British ale at our local British pub and eat traditional British pork scratchings while watching British hoodies beat up traditional British morris dancers in the pub carpark. It just wouldn't be the same if we had to drink it in half litre glasses and pay by Euro.

Personally I miss going to Italy as a millionaire, but I like coming home from Spain and knowing I don't have to use up every single tiny coin at the airport (because I can use them on a weekend in Rome later in the year).

Screw adopting the Euro, you should adopt the Aussie dollar and you can have a currency that you can go swimming with or put through the wash and still use to buy a beer. Also, apparently if you put the notes in the microwave they shrink (remember those shrinkies you used to get in boxes of cereal?)

Although I've never been able to spare $5 to test out this theory.