"On the road..." is a series of posts about our Discovery
of Britain's highways and byways. Whether it be some family fun, a
surprising connection or just a beautiful spot we want to share our love for
this country with you.
Today we visit the London Eye
 |
| Preparing for take off |
The London Eye, opened in 1999, continues
to provide visitors with impressive 3600 views across the capital
from the comfort of heated and ventilated capsules. Standing at 135 metres (443 ft) high and
weighing 2,100 tonnes the London Eye carries 800 visitors around on each of its
half hour rotations. The slow, continual
rotation means the wheel never has to stop to allow guests to step on and
off.
Guests can see for 24 miles (40 km) and enjoy
great aerial views of London’s iconic buildings.
This simple
idea of the ‘Eye’ was originally conceived to be a temporary attraction. After five years it was supposed to be
dismantled and moved to a new city.
Little did planners know then how popular it would become, and it is now
a permanent structure. With over 3
million visitors a year it continues to be one of the most visited paid
attractions in the city and has become as much a part of London’s skyline as its
neighbouring Big Ben.
Its iconic
status has made it a much sought after venue.
You can even get married here!
Around 60 couples a year tie the knot on the London Eye. Film crews have used it in movies such as
The Fantastic Four, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Thunderbirds and
Paddington. Likewise it has made
appearances on TV programmes such as Dr. Who, Sherlock and even the
Simpsons.
And one
useless bit of trivia for you: the
capsules are numbered from 1 to 33….yet if you count you will discover only
32. The reason being that there is no
capsule number 13 – it was left out for good luck.
This is an excerpt from the tour London River Walk - South Bank which
explores around the southern side of the Thames. The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment