The London Eye. Truly the experience of a lifetime.
When I first came to the realization that we were going to be getting onto it and actually going for a ride, that windy morning as we were crossing the bridge, I was absolutely terrified.
The London Eye is 135 meters high (442ft 1061⁄64in) and not only does the actual wheel itself spin, the capsules that you are in spin as well. Needless to say, as a person who is terrified of heights, I wasn’t too keen. But I battled through and managed to get through the line for tickets and into the capsule with no serious damage being done.
Though I may have had a fear in the beginning, it was washed away very quickly. You can’t even tell that you’re moving! It truly is amazing to be able to look out of every side of the capsule and see a different side of this city. Once you make it to the top, you realize how truly huge London really is and just how beautiful it is as well. From the top, on a clear day, some people claim to be able to see Windsor Castle, though even if that isn’t true, it is true that you can see very modern skyscrapers and very old monuments, right next to each other. Rather different for people who hail from the United States, where everything is, relatively speaking, new.
The first thing that happened on this trip to the sky was that our professor, Scott Cooper, asked me to take a picture of him. Never before have I seen a professor so excited to get their picture taken. It was really a nice little moment as I snapped the picture and he happily smiled. It’s good to know that, even though I believe he’s been on the Eye before, it is still that exciting of an experience.
When in London, you have choices that must be made. When we were on the coach ride to Windsor Castle the day before, our wonderful tour guide was telling us about a package that you can purchase on the Eye that allows you to have a capsule all to yourself; just you, the person you love, and a butler to serve you champagne. It costs quite a bit of money, but if you’re in love then I suppose it’s all worth it.
Back to the decisions. We had all been talking about this while we were in line, waiting for it to be our turn to get on board. I had, jokingly, announced to Erin that I would propose to her at the top of the Eye. She laughed and I laughed and it was all around a good little joke between friends… until we got to the top of the Eye. Okay, I will admit, we weren’t entirely at the top, we were a bit past, but it still counts. That was when I dropped to my knee in front of her and she proved herself as an actress while she happily accepted my offer.
The sites from the top were fantastic; you could get a full view for miles and miles around and we had lucked out and gotten to go for the ride on an unusually sunny day. No clouds, just land for miles and miles. I don’t know if I can say we saw Windsor Castle but we most certainly saw Big Ben in all of it’s glory, right below us. The experiences that I had on the London Eye are ones that I will hold with me for the rest of my life. The laughs and the smiles and the group pictures of my friends and I will always be something that I hold near and dear to my heart. So I just wish to saw thank you to London, for simply existing.