London Eye, closed, thank goodness!

London Eye
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In March 2005 I visited some of London’s latest tourist attractions with my mum before taking her to see Phantom of the Opera for her birthday.

From Princess Diana’s Memorial we followed the Ring Road to the Underground station at Lancaster Gate and caught the Central and Jubilee lines for Westminster.

But it's the Gerkin or St Mary's Axe that is my favourite

Emerging from the underground, Big Ben loomed above, almost blotting out the grey sky with its 10-m high clock tower and seven metre diameter clock face. The hour bell of the Great Clock of Westminster is named Big Ben after the largest bell, weighing over 13 tons.

Westminster Bridge bustled with tourists taking pictures and studying maps. On the opposite, south side of the Thames and inside Jubilee Gardens - the exact centre of London - towers the 1,500-tonne British Airways’ London Eye. Erected to mark the nation’s celebration of the New Century, it was opened in January 2000. The outer rim of the 135-metre high giant observation wheel is London's fourth highest structure and the largest of its kind in the world.

Being a little afraid of heights, I wasn’t disappointed that it was closed for maintenance. The wheel has 32 glass high-tech capsules offering a 40-km panoramic view, a unique way of seeing London. London Eye attracts up to two million people year.

Unlike New York, Hong Kong or Tokyo, London has not had many tall buildings, so the few that have recently poked their heads above the skyline are rapidly becoming major landmarks. Today, the tallest building in London is the 236m distinctive, pyramid-topped skyscraper of Canary Wharf in the Docklands. But not for long, because a new challenger will soon appear - the glittering, thrusting pyramid Shard of Glass will be the tallest building in Europe. Another giant dominating the skyline is the distinctively shaped 180-metre St Mary’s Axe, commonly known as the Gherkin, although to me it looks more like a crashed Hindenburg! This is my favourite piece of modern architecture on the London skyline and is covered in 24,000 m2 of glass and recently won a top award for new British architecture.

Cities are defined by their buildings and it is no wonder that London is one of the world’s most popular cities, with 28 million visitors flocking here each year to see the wonderful mix of old and new.