{"id":6904,"date":"2016-06-26T15:49:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T21:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/?p=6904"},"modified":"2016-09-08T18:48:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T15:48:56","slug":"the-london-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/the-london-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"The London Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel that was built to celebrate the new millennium. Like the Eiffel Tower, it was never meant to be a long lasting monument that would become an icon of the city. Not being crazy about heights, I did a lot of research before committing to the expense of riding up to the very top and back down again!<\/p>\n

Sunday morning felt like the perfect time to ride the Eye. I just happened to be there, the weather was good, and the crowds weren’t massive.<\/p>\n

There are a few different ways to buy tickets for the London Eye, each one more expensive than the last. I did my research and learned two things. 1) The Fast Track tickets are pretty much a rip off as the queue is almost as long and 2) The money saved by buying online ahead of time is not worth it if you end up going on a day with bad weather. I decided to just buy a regular ticket when I got there, then ended up combining with Madame Tussaud’s and the aquarium.<\/p>\n

I got in the queue around noon and was off the Eye by 12:40. So even if the crowds seem large, they move quickly. Like with all London attractions I’ve visited thus far, be prepared to open your bag and to be subjected to a wand search before embarking. Unless a rider is disabled or elderly, the Eye does not stop and you step on and off while it is moving, which it does at a snail’s pace.<\/p>\n

These\u00a0pods are going up.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4376\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I splurged (\u00a31!) on a viewing guide. A lot of people in my pod referred to it and expressed regret at not getting it.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4377\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is it!<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4379\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4380\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking northwards to Jubilee Bridge.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4381\"<\/a><\/p>\n

M16 headquarters.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4382\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4384\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4385\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking west.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4388\"<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Paul’s Cathedral to the northeast.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4396\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was starting to get a little uncomfortable here.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4397\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Shard.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4398\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wow! This is iconic London in one shot! Notice Westminster Abbey behind Big Ben.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4399\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Almost at the top! I was ready to get off by this point, just a general feeling of malaise rather than fear. I distracted myself by walking around the pod and trying to see as far off in the distance as I could.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4404\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This was so worth the price of admission!<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4405\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To the northwest.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4406\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4408\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4409\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another view of the Shard. One thing I didn’t get to see was the Gherkin.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4410\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4411\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking south. The guide barely had anything in this direction even though there is an Eiffel Toweresque structure to the southeast…<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4412\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4413\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4415\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The treasury.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4421\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4422\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4423\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These balconies are so precious!<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4424\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP4425\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Done!<\/p>\n

\"IMGP4426\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Riding the London Eye was an unbelievable experience. It is worth the expense and the time spent in the queue. I would love to ride it again at sunset one day. I think that unless you have a debilitating fear of heights, you could manage riding the Eye. It’s easy to distract yourself from how high up you really are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel that was built to celebrate the new millennium. Like the Eiffel Tower, it was never meant to be a long lasting monument that would become an icon of the city. Not being crazy about heights, I did a lot of research before committing to the expense of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[637,636,55,3,56],"tags":[717],"class_list":["post-6904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-england","category-europe","category-london","category-travel","category-uk","tag-experiences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}