Mike loves rainy weather especially when it lasts for days and days, so he was thrilled to go to London. Or not. Having not been to London, I don’t really have an appreciation for that comment. Although I’ve heard Gwyneth Paltrow say the same thing in interviews so it must be true.
Fortunately, he took some awesome pictures and filled us in on the details of it all – without the rain. Given that my view and recent knowledge of London is based on audiobooks I’ve listened to with the kids (The Red Pyramid (affiliate link) and The 39 Clues: Maze of Bones (another affiliate link)), I had to do a little studying to be able to bring you decent highlights. I know how much you appreciate that!
I don’t know what I thought the London Eye was but I didn’t think it was a big freakin’ ferris wheel. That description doesn’t really do it justice, but that’s still what it looks like in the pictures. A well-positioned huge ferris wheel but…I’m just sayin’. Ok, you can see up to 40 km in all directions from it – not sure if that’s on a clear day or on a rainy one. It is the biggest paid attraction in London (open since 2000) and gets about 3.5 million visitors each year. I’m not sure what number Mike was in 2010…let’s call him visitor #2,330,432.
Mike’s comment on all of this? He was thrilled to figure out a way to get into the “express line” to go up in it…something to do with having bought a 4D ticket (yes, 4D) – I really should listen closer. And the view was incredible…even in the rain (which you can get a glimpse of in the picture. (For my part, I sorta felt that way being in the ferris wheel at the top of the City Museum in St. Louis but being in London seems more exotic.)
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| London Eye – before the ride… |
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| …and during…dang, that could be 40km! |
Of course, there were also the required pictures of the guys with the big fuzzy hats (beefeaters, right?), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace and Big Ben (via webcam!). It’s nothing if not traditional – just like you’d expect. Too bad this was before the big engagement announcement…
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| I need a hat like that! |
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| Westminister Palace and Big Ben…I think |
On a related note, Mara is really looking forward to her own trip to London in June 2011 with People to People. I’m sure there will be lots of pics from that trip – if she can keep track of a camera that whole trip…and it doesn’t get rained on.
~Jenn
