£25 to look out of the window!

[snorri]

The cost is minimal when compared with the cost of getting to London and home again.

 

[perplexed]

No, it should be someone British - how about Sting?

So long as he did it without safety ropes and sweaty palms...

 

[RaRa]

I'm afraid of heights so my 25 quid is staying firmly in my pocket!

 

[biggs682]

not sure if i fancy it myself

 

[Brains]

I was gonna say 'what's the point?' but them again, on my first trip to NYC years ago, I went up Empire State and WTC... mind you, the view was probably more impressive than that from "The Shard". What next, "The Chard"? A building made in the shape of some slightly underrated vegetable?

already been done, it's called the Gherkin

 

[Brains]

our office is directly opposite the Shard on the north bank of the Thames, so we have a perfect view of the laser show they are putting on at 10pm tonight for the official opening.
I'm off to the BBQ in the balcony now and wait for the show

 

[Arch]

It is an astonishing view, due to the lack of anything else on the same scale nearby - views in New York have always seemed a bit crowded to me (never been, just seen on Films etc)

Not sure I fancy it, even without the cost. Funny, I can be in a plane, fine, but standing on something tall firmly attached to the Earth, I get a bit nervy. You'd want a nice clear day to get your money's worth. I think the Eye is enough for me, one day.

And Tower Bridge is a good visit, they have some really massive spanners on display!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

They also said there might be a bit with a glass floor, like Blackpool tower.

Does that mean the pavement below will be crowded with blokes in macs laying flat on their backs with binoculars?

The view from the Spinaker Tower in Portsmouth is probably more interesting with all the boats and stuff, and it has a glass floor too! Unfortunately, when I was there, all you would have seen through your binocs would have been umpteen kids peering at you!

it does seem a bit expensive, for what would be less that an hours entertainment.

to put the price in some context:
The London Eye cost £17
Tower Bridge viewing platform costs £8
The Monument to the great fire costs £3

The monument to The Great Tottenham Loot........ oh..... it's disappeared.

 

[Norm]

Compares pretty well with the Spinnaker Tower, which is £8.25 for 100m and you only get to see Portsmouth from there.

 

[PBancroft]

You'll get a better view on a clear day at the top of Scafell Pike - it won't be so busy and the walk is free.

Just saying.

 

[vernon]

Why don't bankers look out of their windows in the morning?
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It gives them something to do in the afternoon.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Actually, I've seen it all before anyway, because the very first time I ever went in an airliner... well, a 'real' plane anyway, I had just come out of hospital after having chemo. This being pre 9/11, they let me into the cockpit for the landing at Heathrow, the take off from Heathrow and finally the landing at Zurich (We were going from Glasgow to Zurich you see).

There we were, flying above the Thames and central London in the cockpit of a BA '757 at about 8,000 feet and with the pilots pointing out a lot of the landmarks for us, including Wimbledon off in the distance to the left, the then brand new London Eye below us, still on its side before being put up, and way off in front of us, Windsor Castle and the runway lights of Heathrow gradually emerging and getting clearer and clearer!

Go up the Shard with a decent lens and you might get some good pictures of the planes going past!

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

That sounds like when I flew back from Vienna in December minus the cockpit bit. Whatever flight path we took we came from the east, up along the Thames, over Canary Wharf, the City, west London and down into Gatwick. It was about half nine at night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was the most wonderful sight I've ever seen, everything all lit up and twinkling away.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

That sounds like when I flew back from Vienna in December minus the cockpit bit. Whatever flight path we took we came from the east, up along the Thames, over Canary Wharf, the City, west London and down into Gatwick. It was about half nine at night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was the most wonderful sight I've ever seen, everything all lit up and twinkling away.

This was during the day, but yes, I like flying at night too. There you are, flying over a sea of inky blackness interspersed by islands of light, sometimes complete with a 'causeway' to another. You look down and you see banks of lights glinting and blinking at you, like jewels and gemstones, all different colours. It looks all pretty and you think that that is it, but then you see some of the lights moving, like little creatures, as though you are looking at them through a microscope, and for a short while at least, everything seems ok with the world.

 

[middleagecyclist]

This was during the day, but yes, I like flying at night too. There you are, flying over a sea of inky blackness interspersed by islands of light, sometimes complete with a 'causeway' to another. You look down and you see banks of lights glinting and blinking at you, like jewels and gemstones, all different colours. It looks all pretty and you think that that is it, but then you see some of the lights moving, like little creatures, as though you are looking at them through a microscope, and for a short while at least, everything seems ok with the world.

I feel like that sometimes...i would hesitate to admit it to a group of often sweaty men though!