Please read and enjoy our article and watch your FREE LONDON MUSIC VIDEO at the end London's attractions, the Ferrist of them all? Here's a question! What London tourist attraction has been described as having "a brilliantly inessential function.…to lift people up from the ground, take them round a giant loop in the sky, then put them back down where they started"? | If the question had included the phrase "…take them for a ride…" the answer might well have been the Houses of Parliament (is it me or are these 'jokes' getting worse?)
No, the answer, which we know you would have guessed (the photograph might have been a clue), is the London Eye!
The London Eye , also known as the Millennium Wheel, is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe . Standing 135 metres (443 ft) at the side of the River Thames by Westminster Bridge , the London Eye is the most popular paid tourist attraction in London and indeed the United Kingdom .
The London Eye was first opened to the public in March 2002 and has been visited by more than 3,000,000 people in one year. At one time, the London Eye was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world but can now only lay claim to being "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" . For the 'anaraks' among us, this is because the entire structure is supported by an A-frame on one side only!
The London Eye can be found at the western end of Jubilee Gardens , on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge . | | Aye, Eye! | The rim of the London Eye resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel which carries 32 sealed and air-conditioned, egg-shaped passenger capsules . Each 10 tonne capsule holds 25 people who can stand or sit on the London Eye as they enjoy the magnificent panoramic views across London.
And how magnificent those views are!
London is laid out in all its 360 degree majesty with the River Thames scything in great bends through London's heart. The majestic Tower Bridge spans the Thames to the east with the great Canary Wharf towers many miles further downriver. The City of London skyline provides a backdrop to the Tower of London and St Pauls Cathedral on the north bank of the Thames .
The West End of London provides the foreground for the distant views north.
Just below and to the left of the London Eye, lies the Palace of Westminster , the Mother of all Parliaments , with the Union Flag (better known as the Union Jack) fluttering aloft with the great clock tower of Big Ben waiting patiently for its intricate Victorian mechanism to call for the quarter-hourly chimes. |
|  | | So that's what holds it up! | The London Eye rotates at a leisurely 26 cm (10 in) per second so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes and gives ample time to take in the views and capture them on film. The London Eye wheel does not usually stop to take on passengers: the rotation rate is so slow that they can walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level.
Strangely enough, the London Eye was not intended to be a permanent structure and originally only had planning permission for five years. Eventually, however Lambeth Council agreed to plans to make the the London Eye permanent.
By June 2008 , some 30 million people have had 'flights' aboard the London Eye.
Architectuarily, the London Eye has generally received critical acclaim. Sir Richard Rogers , an esteemed architect has written:
"The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London"
Another article from one Steve Rose described the London Eye as follows (apologies to Mr Rose for pilfering his words in our opening Question): | | An unusual view | "The (London) Eye... exists in a category of its own.... It essentially has to fulfill only one function, and what a brilliantly inessential function it is: to lift people up from the ground, take them round a giant loop in the sky, then put them back down where they started. That is all it needs to do, and thankfully, that is all it does."
I'm sorry but every time I read that, I still can't help conjuring up a picture of the Houses of Parliament! | | |
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