London - From On High and From Down Low
19th August 2018
I had a long weekend in London to stroll around the city and enjoy the views. Ok, I admit, a lot of the views were of the inside of pubs but there was plenty of walking in between. Omg London prices - when did 3 pints of beer cost £15? - I can buy 10 pints, 3 bags of pork scratching and a whippet for that up north, in Sheffield.
We had a trip booked to enjoy The View From The Shard, which as luck would have it, was at the top of the Shard.
The viewing point is on floor 72, pretty near the top. The lifts are so fast I believe that I may have actually time travelled and ended up a few seconds younger at the top. To be honest, I didn't feel any younger, although an episode of Mary, Mungo and Midge did flash through my mind. This may have been the beer though.
At £25 a go it would cost a lot to reduce your age significantly through the magic of lift travel. Give it a go if you have the spare cash.
When we were waiting in the queue at the bottom to get in the View, a guy actually asked the doorman - 'Excuse me Sir, is there a lift inside?' Honestly?
Imagine that design meeting - "Ok Nige, its over 72 stories high. So lets go over it. Rooms - check. Stairs - check. Hmm, you know what, I still cant help thinking we've forgotten something'.
When we checked into our hotel, the headline in the Greenwich Visitor was '59 days without rain' - so guess what. It rained when were at the top of the Shard. Actually, this made it quite moody and the only problem was avoiding photographing the raindrops on the glass windows. The viewing floor is open at top, which I hadn't realised, so rain gets in. It didn't spoil things.
You can buy ice cream and champagne at the top. I'm not sure which random wheel of catering was used to make that connection. They probably just had a few Cornettos left over from the office party.
So here's a few views of Olde London Towne from above.
The actual view with my widest lens. I had to carry the feet with me up the top which caused a few funny looks.
Tower Bridge and the River Thames, snaking away to the distance
St Paul's Cathedral high above the city
Part two of the photographic tour was the 'blue hour'. Not the hour when the the jokes are just for the grown-ups, (sorry, time travelled again - back to 1975) but the lovely period about 30-40 minutes after sunset, when the sky turns and deep blue and is balanced by the lights of the city. I love taking photos at this time.
During my drunken haze of the daytime I'd found a nice location around the Millennium Bridge and seen some nice compositions. I headed back around 8pm. Having paid just the £6 for a beer (2 whippets plus 2 bags of northern pork scratchings) whilst I waited for the drizzle to stop, I was then ready to spring into action. Giving the barman a last hard stare for overcharging (he shrugged, the kind of shrug that says he could feel my pain), I headed out to photograph the night.
St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge
St Paul's cathedral from the Millennium Bridge (ok, everyone takes this photo)
The city over Southwark Bridge
Panoramic view of the night London skyline from the Millennium Bridge - I thought this was going to be too dark but the long exposure worked well.
We had a trip booked to enjoy The View From The Shard, which as luck would have it, was at the top of the Shard.
The viewing point is on floor 72, pretty near the top. The lifts are so fast I believe that I may have actually time travelled and ended up a few seconds younger at the top. To be honest, I didn't feel any younger, although an episode of Mary, Mungo and Midge did flash through my mind. This may have been the beer though.
At £25 a go it would cost a lot to reduce your age significantly through the magic of lift travel. Give it a go if you have the spare cash.
When we were waiting in the queue at the bottom to get in the View, a guy actually asked the doorman - 'Excuse me Sir, is there a lift inside?' Honestly?
Imagine that design meeting - "Ok Nige, its over 72 stories high. So lets go over it. Rooms - check. Stairs - check. Hmm, you know what, I still cant help thinking we've forgotten something'.
When we checked into our hotel, the headline in the Greenwich Visitor was '59 days without rain' - so guess what. It rained when were at the top of the Shard. Actually, this made it quite moody and the only problem was avoiding photographing the raindrops on the glass windows. The viewing floor is open at top, which I hadn't realised, so rain gets in. It didn't spoil things.
You can buy ice cream and champagne at the top. I'm not sure which random wheel of catering was used to make that connection. They probably just had a few Cornettos left over from the office party.
So here's a few views of Olde London Towne from above.
The actual view with my widest lens. I had to carry the feet with me up the top which caused a few funny looks.
Tower Bridge and the River Thames, snaking away to the distance
St Paul's Cathedral high above the city
Part two of the photographic tour was the 'blue hour'. Not the hour when the the jokes are just for the grown-ups, (sorry, time travelled again - back to 1975) but the lovely period about 30-40 minutes after sunset, when the sky turns and deep blue and is balanced by the lights of the city. I love taking photos at this time.
During my drunken haze of the daytime I'd found a nice location around the Millennium Bridge and seen some nice compositions. I headed back around 8pm. Having paid just the £6 for a beer (2 whippets plus 2 bags of northern pork scratchings) whilst I waited for the drizzle to stop, I was then ready to spring into action. Giving the barman a last hard stare for overcharging (he shrugged, the kind of shrug that says he could feel my pain), I headed out to photograph the night.
St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge
St Paul's cathedral from the Millennium Bridge (ok, everyone takes this photo)
The city over Southwark Bridge
Panoramic view of the night London skyline from the Millennium Bridge - I thought this was going to be too dark but the long exposure worked well.