London Eye

close up workings of the London Eye, each pod weighing in at ten tonnes each!

well lots of photos from today! Mom and i left in a cab to Berkhamsted station and onto the train to Euston! then a trip to Kings Cross/St Pancras and collected our tickets for our trip on the Eurostar two weeks today!

this is the cucumber!?! in the middle there, but i think i have the wrong name for it? no its the Gherkin! just asked Tony! these photos are so small hope i am describing the write thing in each one, if not they will be here somewhere!!!

we had a coffee and pastry in a French café in the station there before moving on to Waterloo... the walk down from Euston to get onto the platform for Kings Cross was like a spiral staircase! just went down down and down further into the bowels of the earth!

now this one i cant get wrong, in foreground is the Horse Guards Parade ground and beyond Buckingham Palace!

in St Pancras i popped into a Vodafone store, my phone wouldn't text! OMG i know a disaster isn't it! anyway, a guy said maybe i had used it abroad and it needed a quick two second *thing* doing to it, and it worked again! thank you sir!

here The Houses of Parliament.... and St Stevens tower, with the bell, Big Ben, we were outside having a cold drink and the most awful sandwiches you have ever tasted... when it chimed One o'clock! a man also tried to sell us a big issue magazine for two thousand pounds! i said maybe tomorrow, but today i was right out of cash!!! this photo also looks like you can see the curvature... but not sure if that's right, or an optical illusion?

we were lucky there were only i think 7 of us in the pod, we sat down for a little while and still no one was in our way, it was cloudy and grey when we left, about 1.30am ish i think(?) and the trip lasted about half an hour, i suppose when there are more people coming and going each stop the trip lasts longer? but then i say *stop*, it of course doesn't actually stop, it just keeps going, but it is going so slow there is time for everyone to get off, and next lot in! and they even give the place a quick wipe over in between, not exactly sure what they were wiping, two people went in with long handled things and wiped at something on the ceiling! there was an air con unit in the pods too...


here in the distance is St Paul's Cathedral.

when we came out of Waterloo i knew to take exit 6, and signs for South Bank from the station, but after that i just followed my nose... usually leads me in the right direction! last time i went to the London Eye, not on it, but just near it, we came from the Imax, so was slightly different direction....

Mom's knee started to hurt before we went on to the Eye, kept asking her if she wanted to just get home when we got off, but she is determined and so after that awful lunch we got back to Waterloo and back down onto the tube and off to Bond Street station, we had to walk for ages from Waterloo? no that's not right, i think we got the tube to Bank from there, then had to walk for ages to get to a platform to take us to, oh that's not right? we were in Bank and the tube just went to Waterloo? but now i already cant remember what order of things took us there! must have been before the London Eye... anyone else confused or is it just me!!! sorry about that... anyway, it was an almost empty train at that time of day!

also before we went on the Eye, there was a 4D experience, we were at the front and there were 3 or 4 tiers only, we stood and with these real classy specks on we watched this massive screen, quite close to us, being at the front! and there we were flying through the sky, eye to eye with a seagull! which flew almost to our faces... or so it felt! we were at once in a pod with dancers, confetti falling almost within reach and when back *outside* during the movie when it snowed... it was amazing is all i will say! you could feel the snow on your skin.... no really you could! it snowed inside! when we walking in you could see the smoke from the ice rising...

i have lots more photos, so more tomorrow and for the next few days! i kept putting the camera away, then having to get it out again!

so, Mom still would not give in, and did not want to go home, so as i was saying way back sometime.... we got back onto a tube and off to Bond Street and along Oxford Street for a stroll! we popped into a couple of stores... a coffee in one, but we were both so tired, not sure how we kept going, determination or stupidity! one or the other eh! no answer required thank you very much!

so, Oxford Circus and i took away the options and said here we are... this is ours, and down we went, just a couple of stops and we were at Euston, straight up to the trains, onto ours which was there already and waiting! and we were back into Berkhamsted half an hour after leaving London!

going through the ticket machines was hilarious! i had Mom's ticket, she didn't want to do the necessary! so each, and every time, her in front i first put in one ticket, she went through, then i swapped tickets and through i went! only problem, people thought when i put the first ticket in i would be going through, and i didn't!!! and on the tubes and trains, not sure what people were thinking, me directing her about to seats and when to get up or not! oh well, we made it through the day, happy and tired!


oh this poor woman on the tv, her two little boys only 2yrs old, suffering from e.coli, they're in St Thomas Hospital, which we could see, very close from the Eye today.... they knew the farm had already caused cases of the e.coli and yet still stayed open... poor poor little darlings...

ok, time to get some dinner on now, we have only eaten rubbish all day, which wont be helping much, so adios amigos....

TTFN
Marian