July 30 - London Eye and Museums

Mom and I started our Saturday off early with another breakfast at Pret before heading to the London Eye (neither Dad or Jules were interested). Built in 1999, it stands 135 metres high and is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. Each of the pods holds about twenty people and you can walk around them, which allows for great views in every direction. Here are a few photos from the Eye:

First, we have the skyscrapers of the City and boats along the Thames.

Here we see the royal parks (St. James and Green) with government buildings in the foreground and Buckingham Palace in the middle.

And here we have a glorious view of Westminster, in particular the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.

Here’s a close up of Buckingham Palace with St. James's Park Lake visible in front of it.

And of course, the obligatory shot of Downing Street from above!

Here we see Trafalgar Square (it’s small, but it’s there), with Nelson’s Column and the National Gallery visible.

All in all, the Eye was a fabulous experience, and I'm very glad we decided to do it. After we'd come back down to the ground we walked along the south bank, from which you have a fantastic view of the Palace of Westminster.

We continued on to the Imperial War Museum, where we met up with Dad and Jules (they went back to King's Cross this morning) and had a light lunch in the museum café. The museum itself was interesting (in particular the Trench Reconstruction and London Blitz Experience), but I do think the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa is far superior.

We ended the busy day of sightseeing at the British Museum, which, like the National Gallery, is way too big to see in an hour (but we tried).

With such limited time I just wandered through the Greek and Roman galleries and the Great Court (pictured here), which is as impressive as the museum's collections!

After another wonderful pub dinner near the museum we walked down Drury Lane past the Theatre Royal and the Royal Opera House towards Covent Garden Market. While in the market we were treated to a concert by a busking string quintet - a perfect end to a thoroughly enjoyable day!

 GWV