Remembering Nice Things About London, Such As The London Eye

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. –
Samuel Johnson, 1777

Yeah, well Johnson never had to ride the Tube. Put Johnson into the
hell-furnace of a Tube carriage, and he’d be tired of London pretty fast.

I lived in London for a year way, way back in 1997 before we moved out into
the countryside. I’ve rarely missed it, since I’ve long shifted from viewing
London as a tourist destination to instead a place of work. Doing work in
London for me ain’t fun. On the rare times when I go in, such as today, it
involves an often late train journey, followed by a Tube trip that’s never
pleasant. More and more I black cab to avoid the Tube, not out of fear of
terrorism but just general hatred of how unpleasant the Tube is for a commute.

Still, as a tourist city, London is wonderful. I can remember my excitement
in coming to it for the first time even more years ago, 1988. I have
to confess, the magic still comes back a bit when you come up out of the Tube at
Piccadilly and see this:

and this:

OK, poor quality photos shot with my camera phone, nothing special. But
seeing stuff like this when makes you realize despite how much the Tube grinds
you down, London’s something special.

I was in town with the family for the fun task of
passport renewal. As a treat,
we rewarded the kids with a trip to the
London Eye. Anyone hitting London should make a visit. It’ll be a highlight,
especially if you’ve got a clear day, such as today. Going up!

What you’ll be in, a bubble. This one is at the top:

Don’t panic. You’ll hardly notice that you’re moving higher and higher.
Here’s an older picture from another trip showing it more clearly:

The things you’ll see, like the Houses Of Parliament:

See the clock tower, AKA Big Ben (Big Ben’s actually the bell within the
tower). Now see the other big tower? That’s

Victoria Tower, and I spent about a month working practically underneath it
in the Lord Chancellor’s office all those many years ago. My important task was to type — a story for
another day. Having lunch in the cafeteria you reach through Westminster Hall
was pretty cool, too.

Some skyline:

See that triangular building way in the distance?
The Gherkin (aka, a pickle).
Very cool building, and better views from the Eye than this picture suggests.

Going down!

I’ve been to the Eye many times over the years, but I can never forget my
first trip. We were doing SES London 2001, so I rented a bubble and marched a
number of speakers down for a ride, including this guy:

That’s Google’s Craig
Silverstein, employee number one, and also one of the nicest people you
could ever meet.

Here’s the group shot:

Crazy Dane Mikkel deMib Svensen, Craig, Shari Thurow, Detlev Johnson and Shari’s
sister keeping it from getting too searchy.

Someday I might do a longer thing on my favorite things to do in London, but
the London Eye is a biggie. Along with that, try to take in
a session at the Houses
of Parliament. It’s great theater. I caught Thatcher once in one of her last
appearances in the Commons. A walk through any of the park is great, but I
especially like

Hampstead Heath and Kenwood. The
Tower Of
London is a must — it’s like Disneyland, only real. The Changing Of The
Guard? Sure — I finally saw it years after being in England. But honestly? Far
better to do the

Buckingham Palace tour when they run in the summer.

Finally, favorite shopping place? Hit either of the
Emma
Bridgewater stores in London for great fun china at discount prices,
especially compared to what you’ll get in the US. And then when I’m done there
with getting something for my wife, it’s time to treat myself at the ultimate
sci-fi store, Forbidden Planet.