Awesome Designs: The London Eye

So it has been just over 10 years that the London Eye has been open to the public (it was formally opened by Tony Blair on the 31st of December 1999 but didn’t open to the public until March 200 because of technical problems) and it is now one of the biggest landmarks in London and is the most popular paid for tourist attraction in the UK with over 3.5 million people visiting it annually.

Overlooking the River Thames in Central London it was the tallest ferris wheel in the world at 135 metres when it was built and it remained the tallest until 2006 when the Star of Nanchang was built and was 160 metres. It is however still the worlds tallest cantilevered observation wheel because it is only supported by an A-frame on one side. I wonder if they had to slightly change any flights coming to London to avoid collisions…

The huge wheel contains 32 egg shaped pods that can hold up to 25 people at a time and one revolution takes 30 minutes, the wheel never really stops because it is sufficiently slow enough that people can walk on and off when the pod is at ground level. However they do stop it sometimes for elderly or disabled people so that they can get on and off without any risk.

It’s an amazing attraction and everyone should get visit it, it’s good for a day out if you live relatively close or of course you can get flights from Manchester, Scotland and Ireland that only take an hour or so and will save a long drive. For overseas visitors you can of course book flights to the UK or direct to London, there is plenty of other amazing attractions so you will love a couple weeks over here!