London Day Three
There is a tradition among the support folks we’re paired with while here in London. It’s called Biryani Tuesdays. A certain Pakistani restaurant called Al Badar near the office prepares quite delicious chicken wings and chicken biryani. The gents here head there each Tuesday to eat massive quantities of the stuff, which is basically a rice and spicy meat dish with a side of sliced tomatoes and onions in a yogurt sauce and hot buttery naan.
Deeee licious.
While trying not to fall asleep due to the large meal back in the office, I was able to get some great meetings with the local staff. Really good stuff, and it left me in a grand mood.
We decided to head for the South Bank to see the sights and have a go on the London Eye. We rode the tube to Westminster and came out to find Big Ben and Parliament. Simply remarkable and the puffy clouds and blue skies were amazing.
We crossed the river and headed towards the Eye. It really is beautiful and much large than it seems. Somehow I was reminded of Epcot in Florida because of the crowd. There was every kind of person imaginable queued up (translation: in line) for tickets.
The line wasn’t terrible. Karin clocked us at twenty minutes wait for our tickets, and the “flight” we were taking was scheduled for 7:30 pm, just 30 minutes from the time we purchased the tickets.
British Airways owns the Eye, so everything has a flight motif. You receive a time for your “flight” but in reality, it takes nearly 30 minutes to queue (wait in line) so it’s not noticeable. Plus there’s so much good people watching the time flies by.
You enter your carriage as the wheel is rotating. Anywhere from 10 to 25 people get inside a gigantic egg shaped capsule with a three-hundred-sixty degree view around you. The capsules are marked with the cardinal points as well. There’s a large oval bench in the middle and railings along each of the windows. It’s completely enclosed, and on one side is an air conditioning unit to keep things mildly cool. I say mildly because it did get a bit warm with all the sunshine we had.
The wheel takes around thirty minutes to make a full revolution. Your capsule stays level the entire time, and there’s no knocking or even much of a feeling of motion. Slowly you rise above London, and if you are there on a clear day the view is really amazing.
You must not visit London without visiting the Eye. It’s the single most fantastic thing I’ve done here yet, and the pictures tell the tale. Really awesome. Really.
After the Eye we walked along the South Bank for a long way, enjoying the waterside paths and crowds, and basically just enjoying a leisurely stroll.
Lots of bicycles in London, both on the walking paths and on the streets. It’s a bit frightening to think that cyclists ride among the extremely narrow streets here, but I suppose you could get used to it if you had to.
We decided to try and find this Greek Restaurant near Old Street but ended up eating at a place called Shish, which was simply delightful. A couple appetizers, some great beer (including a Strawberry beer which Karin said tasted like juice), and two delicious lamb kebobs on cous cous. Yummy.
Back to the hotel to a good nights sleep. Have I been here three days already?