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The British Airways London Eye
This day was absolutely perfect. I hadn't made any concrete plans of what I was going to do, so the weather made the decision for me.

I'm still not used to the extended evenings here, so I booked my ticket for 16:00, hoping that the light would be better, but it was still extremely bright. I also wasn't the only one who thought it was a good day to go on the Eye, so every single capsule was full to capacity, which mean a number of the picture I have were taken from between people's legs. 

I got to the point where I was just firing off shots, hoping that some of them would come out clearly. The one's on display here are among the best, but even they have reflections from inside the capsule in them.

All in all, I spent an awfully long time in a queue only to hardly get to see anything around all the other people in the capsule. 
 
Just  a panorama. I think that's St. Paul's in the far right.

 

Waterloo bridge.
The Eye from the Eye, and a bit of London in the background. I had to.

 

I think that's the Blackfriars bridge in the forefront, but I could be wrong, there are a number of bridges crossing the Thames.
View of the County Hall, which is home to the Saatchi and Dali galleries, just before disembarkation.

 

As part of my day out, I decided to go and check out David Blaine. In case you don't know, he's trying to set a world record by staying in this box, suspended from a crane with no food, only water, for 44 days. He has not received a warm welcome from the locals. I went along, just because I could.  I was quite lucky, as I approached the area, he was lying limply on the ground, but someone coaxed him into standing up, so I was able to get a few shots of something more recognizable than a body on the floor. If anyone wants further proof that its him, I have photographs where the tattoos on his back are visible.
I took this from the tower bridge, just to give an idea of how the box was set up. Its was unusually hot and the glass was quite steamed up, so I think David got a little more than he bargained for. 

 

I actually came across this on my way to the Tower Bridge area. I took a train from Waterloo to London Bridge, because my feet were damned sore (I'd already walked from the Eye to the Tate Modern and back) and somehow managed to get lost. In getting lost, I stumbled upon this, the ruins of Winchester Castle, which is just around the corner from the Clink, another prison museum.
This is the Southwark cathedral, which I also came across by accident. I have probably discovered more of London by complete accident than by following maps and guidebooks.  This sculpture resides just next to the entrance to the Southwark Cathedral. It is another nameless sculpture, but in my attempts to find out what it is, I discovered that the Southwark Cathedral might actually be worth going into, so expect some more photos in the future. Hopefully someone there will be able to tell me a little something about this sculpture. 

 

This in No. 1 London Bridge. This photo does not do this building any justice. The bottom right hand corner has basically been 'cut away'. I am assuming that the architect created this design with the intention of enabling pedestrians to stroll along the south bank of the river unimpeded. I only noticed this building during the sail down the Thames I'd been on the night before, and worked (walked) really hard to get to it before the sun set. I had actually walked through it on my previous exploration of the banks of the Thames. If you look carefully, you can see the reflection of the pink twilight sky in the mirrored windows. I took this picture while crossing London Bridge. The very modern building on the left is the London City Hall. David Blaine's crane is just to the left of it. In the water is the HMS Belfast. I didn't realize that the HMS Belfast was more than just another ship on the Thames, until I saw a documentary on free running in London. Basically, these French guys executed a number of jumps on London landmarks. The HMS Belfast was one of them. They jumped from the 'roof' of the ship down to the deck, using the cannon blocks as stairs. Have a look at the ship in relation to the buildings behind them, and you may get a sense of how high the jumps were.

The ship itself has been saved as a reminder of Britain's naval heritage from the first half of the twentieth century. She served in World War 2 and Korea
I took these shots of the sunset from London Bridge. I have no idea what the building on the right is, so if anyone could enlighten me, I would be grateful.  

 

14 September 2003