One of the first sights I visited in the UK was the London Eye. At the time, it was called the British Airways London Eye but now, it seems like it is sponsored by lastminute.com. It was also world's tallest observation wheel when I visited (its height has since been surpassed by other observation wheels in the world but it remains the tallest one in Europe).
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| London Eye |
Each pod holds 25 people. For the one I boarded, I was told by our "flight attendant" - or the guide who joins us in the pod - that I would be the team leader. Wow! But just as I was feeling a bit important, I was told that being team leader just meant that I was the start of the next group of 25. Way to bring my ego down haha!
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| Each London Eye pod holds 25 people |
It takes about half an hour to go all the way around the London Eye. It was a bit muggy when I was there but I still got to enjoy some pretty cool views of the city. I was told that you can see up to 26 miles away from the top.
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| View from the London Eye |
Another popular landmark I visited was Madame Tussauds, which has hundreds of wax figures of celebrities, leaders, and famous people. I gotta say, the figures are very well-made. As I took this trip such a long time ago, I still didn't have a smart phone so every time I wanted to have my photo taken, I had to ask help from other people. Thankfully, there were a lot of kind people who obliged. One of my favorite photos is this one with The Beatles.
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| The Beatles |
I also had my photo taken with Princess Diana...
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| Diana, Princess of Wales |
...and with Marilyn Monroe in her iconic pose.
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| Marilyn Monroe |
I also went to the London Dungeon. What's interesting about this visit is that I barely remember anything about it. I do know that there were medieval torture devices on display but I can't recall exactly what I saw. I know that I was disturbed by the thought that these tools were used to bring pain to people in the middle ages. I also remember learning that the nursery rhyme "Ring Around The Rosie" supposedly has a pretty gruesome origin as it is believed to be about the Great Plague in the 1600s. It seems that a rosy rash was the first symptom of the plague and posies were supposedly used as a cure or a preventative measure. There are two variants of the 3rd line: "a-tishoo" which could refer to the symptom of sneezing, and "ashes" which could refer to cleansing bonfires. The last line "we all fall down" refers to death. (That said, as I read about it now, many folklorists don't accept this origin story; read more here https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/)
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| Entrance to the London Dungeon |
I also visited Wimbledon! As a huge tennis fan, I wanted to see the place where arguably the most popular and significant tennis tournament is played. My plan was just to pay Wimbledon a quick visit in the morning then I would visit the Science Museum or the Natural History Museum in the afternoon. However, when I got there, I found out that there was a tour of the grounds later that day so I changed my itinerary and decided to just stay in Wimbledon.
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| Wimbledon |
The tour allowed me to to see Centre Court (it still didn't have a roof back then)...
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| Centre Court before the roof was built |
... as well as No. 1 Court.
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| No. 1 Court |
I also spent went into the Wimbledon museum. A highlight for me was seeing some clips of Steffi Graf's legendary win in 1988 over Martina Navratilova that gave her the first of seven Wimbledon titles. (Now, of course, many of these clips are on YouTube.) I actually bought a Steffi poster that I never put up anywhere because there was really no wall space at home for it (I'm not even sure if I still have it, maybe I should check).
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| Trophies on display at the Wimbledon Museum |
While I did not go to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum that day, I did visit them on my last day in the UK before flying back home. What's strange is that, similar to my London Dungeon visit, I absolutely do not remember anything I saw inside. I actually thought I just went there to take pictures of their facades but when I looked at the travel memorabilia I kept, I apparently bought tickets to both these museums. Since I don't recall anything I saw here, I need to include them in my itinerary if (when?) I go to the UK again.
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| Natural History Museum |
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| Science Museum |
In my next post, I will share some special and interesting experiences I had in London.
Next post: London Experiences
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