The Shard At Night - the UK's Highest Building

 

On the distant right is the Shard. The UK's highest building.

Nearby is London Bridge  overground station with trains going south.

We took the London Bridge underground to Euston station. 

I had already taken a ride up the Shard to the observatory to see the view, on a family birthday. The Shard houses three restaurants and a hotel.

Useful Websites

https://www.the-shard.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shard

A - Z Worldwide of Observation Decks

CANADA
Niagara Falls.

MADEIRA
From Funchal go to balcony viewpoint with glass floor, a stop on at least one of the open top bus tour. (Check because companies have more than one tour in different directions.) (See my other posts.)

Marina Bay Sands. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. Hotel and restaurants and bars at the top and Observation deck. Must book and pay. Read options online.

SINGAPORE
Marina Bay Sands. (See my other posts.)


Wales
Fishguard Bay hotel, Wales. On the clifftop. Several other smaller hotels at all prices. (See my other posts.)

Fishguard Bay hotel. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

UK
London
The Shard, London. Timed entry. Expensive but worth it. Allow time for photos and reading all the detailed captions. Consider combined ticket with a drink or meal in the Shard for special occasions.

The Shard,  London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

Horniman Museum Gardens, London. Free view over London with a panel about a few of the landmarks you see. Go on a sunny, clear day.

Photo author Roger Bolsius. Grand Canyon. In Wikipedia.

USA
Grand Canyon.

Useful websites
visit.britain.org
visittheusa.co.uk
tripadvisor
wikipedia
wikitravel
wikivoyage

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Speaker and author. Please share links to your favourite posts.

A to Z from me to U of Worldwide Thrill Rides, Heights and Observation Decks

This post is in progress. Enjoy now but come back in a day or two for more.

Problems
Where is my nearest thrill ride? I don't actually want to ride one. I just want to see it, photograph it, read about it.
Buildings have fire escapes.  Parachutes are designed to help you jump from heights and arrive uninjured. You could design a water vehicle so that if it rolled over or turned upside down, people could be protected in air pockets. Or pull themselves out of an escape hatch or a battlement design edge.

Water Thrills
Check out
Waterslides
Duck boats. WWII amphibious vehicles. I did these twice, on a press trip in New York, and again in Philadelphia. I loved it.  It's a bit like launching a lifeboat. Your boat goes down a slide from land into water, a steep slide!

Fatal accident in the USA in 2018 (Chicago?) - but it was going in bad weather and passengers apparently were not wearing life jackets. I would want to go in good weather and wear a life jacket.)
You get duck boats worldwide. Usually, you can buy a combined ticket for an open top hop on hop off bus with a recorded commentary and a map, either free or extra, and a Duck boat river ride with commentary.

Bucharest, Romania. Hop on hop off bus to this museum with not be missed staircases. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

ROMANIA, Bucharest - hop on hop off bus
I thought this would be an easy option. Not for me. When they say hopping they mean hopping people. Not just sitting. Hopping. Hoping and hopping. If you are the nervous type, the open top bus tours with sides you can see over - plus overhanging branches to dodge is quite exciting. Children and adults love it.

What's not to like - plenty of exercise, steps to ascend and descend at up to fifteen stops, in a static or moving bus, leaping on and off. Signs tell you not to use stairs when a bus is moving. "Hey - this is our stop!"

You walk to the entrance of the museum, which is next to bus stop on the map - but the entrance is down the road or around the corner. hard Rock Cafe was by a lake. You must walk down to the Lake. Hard Rock Cafe is huge. Long walk to toilets at the end and back. Then run back to catch the next bus which goes only every fifteen minutes or half an hour. You find you are at the regular city bus stop or a rival company's stop and see your bus stop yards away and run to it waving - that is also over-exciting.

Static Thrills

USA
The ultimate thrill ride is the man on the moon and the highest observation deck is a space station. You could go to a Space camp. Those suits look awfully bulky and uncomfortable. On the other hand, you will be free-floating in space. Without an anchor, you and your food and other items I won't mention would be floating about. Gravity does have its advantages.

Yes, America is the place for thrills, especially theme parks. The USA is not a small country but a large part of the continent of North America. It's big and you have lots of choice, but distances between one and the next are great.

What's the hurry? Sit back and relax as a passenger in a family car (take turns driving), or take a flight and enjoy the view.

What about the cost?

Buy a house or rent for a year near a theme park and you can get an annual pass. Plus a constant stream of visitors, family and friends and ex-colleagues and others to visit you. No problem entertaining them, whether you want to be with them - or get rid of them! Be with them on day one and get rid of them on day three.

Australia
Tower of Terror, and The Wipeout, in Dreamworld, Australia.
Dreamworld, Dreamworld Parkway, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia QLD 4209.

Austria
Mieders

Canada
I've tried this rope bridge with family visiting from England and family living in Canada. Allow twice as long as you thought, because you can only go as fast as the slowest and most nervous of your groups - and you are held up by others who take fright!
Note that the time to cross is doubled if you have to go across and come back to exit the same way. Allow time for parking, buying tickets, photos and souvenir shopping.
https://www.capbridge.com

China
The Great Wall.
It is high. In fact, just climbing up the giant steps is a challenge. The steps are the height of a chair. The elderly need and helping hand. From the top, you get the views down and for miles.

The glass bridge - is static. The people looking down as they walk are swaying around!

On the other hand, lots of pedestrian suspension bridges are moving. They bounce as you cross. You stop, but people behind you are running after friends and family so the part beneath your feet bounces. So does the handrail.

Keep both hands on the rail and you will be fine. But you need one hand to operate your camera. If you are nervous, don't look down, look ahead.

If you are trying to ward off a panic attack, think of something else and talk about something else, such as, "What time will we have lunch? Where do you want to have lunch?"

Germany
Silver Star rollercoaster at Rust.

Italy
Gardaland (train ride from Verona, after Romeo and Juliet's balcony, a little excitement).
Aquafan Waterpark, Riccione. Contains Kamikaze, Twist, Extreme Rivers.
Mirabilandia.

Japan
Nagashima Spaland, Nagashima Resort, near Nagoya.

Russian Rollercoaster
Waikiki Waver Super Flip.

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Singapore Thrills
Soft static options:
1 Marina Bay Sands observation deck. Hotel with infinity pool.
The place has two levels. The observation deck is big.
On New Year's Day, we chose to pay the extra for a ride up to the bar and cocktails eating area with the open deck. (The restaurants we also tried, and that's serious money. , but you tend to be busy eating and chatting and miss half of it.)

2 Gardens By The Bay
This is a whole Day activity. Must book. Two giant glassed-in areas. One has a giant waterfall with multi-level walkways. You can take the lift to the top and walk down. Get a combined ticket or a one year pass or sign up on their website and wait to check out seasonal, peak season and off-season offers. If you don't like heights, are budget conscious, or want to be in the open air, plenty of riverside walking past labelled trees in the public area outside.
3 Take the train around the Night Safari.
4 Cable car from the big island of Singapore to the small almost traffic-free entertainment island of Sentosa.
5 Big wheel (Singapore Flyer. Look for combined tickets and reductions booking online.)

Spain
On the camino del rey there is a cliffside rope walkway. You are half way up. Don't look down, except at your feet.

UK
Central London:
Pedestrian bridge from the Tate Gallery across the River Thames. From the cafeteria, in the Tate, you get a view over the bridge and river.
(Soft, static option, The Shard observation deck.)
The Shard.
You can get various options, just the Shard observation deck, Shard observation deck and sparkling wine, Shard observation deck plus a meal in their restaurant.
Outside London:
Alton Towers
Gulliver's Travels
Thorpe Park

USA
Free Thrills
I'll always remember our first trip to a hotel with an atrium and a glass lift. It was Atlanta, Georgia. The daily excitement is in the glass lift, for free.

In some hotels and shopping centres you get a free ride up to the restaurant or high floors. It can be quite nerve-wracking if you get in unsuspectingly at the lower level such as the basement or ground floor. Then the lift zooms up and the glass at your feet reveals the city street getting further and further below.

Check out options in the air and space museums in Washington DC and in Florida and elsewhere.

Useful Websites
CANADA
Niagara Falls
niagarafallstourism.com
Pedestrian suspension bridge.
https://www.capbridge.com

CHINA
cnto.org

GERMANY
German.travel/en

ITALY
http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/thrill-seekers-guide-italy-five-best-italian-theme-parks
visititaly.com

JAPAN
seejapan.co.uk

RUSSIA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141189/The-worlds-scariest-rollercoaster-Russian-theme-park-ride-designed-make-thrillseekers-vomit-themselves.html
http://geekologie.com/2012/05/the-puke-inducer-terrifying-russian-them.php

SPAIN
www.spain.info
http://www.caminitodelrey.info/en/#5 - cliffside path (of the king?)

USA
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g34515-d258685-r137598390-Universal_s_Islands_of_Adventure-Orlando_Florida.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/one-kind-biplane-embodies-thrill-airshow-flight-180969864/
https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-aviation-aerospace-museums-united-states-3301104
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster
Duck boat sinking 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1U27zbWXw

Worldwide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_rankings
all you need is lists

Insurance
Remember to take out insurance. Do some compfaison shopping. Check they cover the sorts you want. Some policies exclude skiing, snow sports, scuba diving, parachuting, bungee jumping or off-road activities. If in doubt ask. You might be able to add the excluded activity, especially if it's a one off and you are not doing it for a living. It could be just a few pounds or dollars more, or even free, just a matter of writing it in.

Print this out and add your own favourite and discoveries and suggestions from your friends and family.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Madeira, Singapore, the USA, London, The Shard, thrills, observation points, etc. Please share links to your favourite posts.

My Guide To Walking From Bank To Monument to Tower Bridge on The River Thames.

Problem
Where to walk to the Thames?

Answers

Where to Meet And Start
You can take the train to the old City of London as I did. I started from Euston. Euston station is a busy place. Shops include branches of Smiths and Marks and Spencer so you can stock up on food and drink. The statues include one of a mapmaker and his cat.

The Euston station Cat statue. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 Skyscraper The Shard, seen looking across the river Thames and London Bridge. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Map signs show you where you are and what you can see.

You can pick a riverside walk avoiding steps. Directions show you which way and to find your way to The Monument, Bank station, The Tower of London and Tower Bridge and Exhibition. The directions even tell you how long it will take.

You can see the red London buses will take you across the London Bridge to The Shard. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Walk along the Thames Path or sit and rest by the river. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Beyond the London Bridge, more bridges and steps up London Bridge Staircase. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

A plaque tells you about the London Bridge Staircase which opened in 2016. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

London Bridge information. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The history of London and London Bridge. The famous song, London Bridge is Falling Down. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Notes on what lives in the water.

 The river may look misty and murky, but there's life down there. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Here are the bridges across London's River Thames. You are here by London Bridge. Fifty million vehicles a year cross the bridges. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Station Choices
From Euston it is five stops on the Northern line to Bank.

Stations
At the stations look for a handy map of the stations. Other interesting leaflets include one on art on the underground.

You could start from Bank station, near the Bank of England. Or do what I did and start from Monument station near The Monument.

Stories
Confession: We took the wrong branch of the Northern line and detoured a very long route via Embankment and changed onto the District and Circle line. The friend we were meeting for lunch at The Don restaurant was delayed so we had time to kill.

I was not impressed by the Northern line's Charing Cross on the underground section, nor the District and Circle line at this end.

Some of the stations are being rebuilt. I think it they look dismal. No colour, no pictures of local history. London has some wonderful colourful stations and dramatic statues. However, when I got out at Monument,  my depression disappeared and my whole day transformed into delight.

If you wish, dine in The Don, an upmarket, expensive, olde worlde restaurant in a courtyard off St Swithin's . (See previous posts.)

If you are looking for something cheaper, opposite The Don is the Travelodge which has a bar. On my way walking from Monument station along Cannon Street I also passed several more options such as a Juice place.

On the other side of Cannon Street you can see down the Arthur Street to the river.


Down by the riverside you can sit and read or watch the boats going up and down the river.

You can see the tall triangle of the Shard, Tower Bridge, and tour boats going up and down.

Walking back uphill you can pass The Monument. It commemorates the great fire of London.  In London, history is all around you.

The Monument to the great fire of London. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Tips
If you are meeting friends who are flying into London from overseas, for example from the USA, into Heathrow Airport, they will probably know the royal blue Piccadilly underground train line from Heathrow airport.

Anybody flying into London from Europe might know the DLR, Docklands Light Railway from London City Airport station.

Your visitors from Europe taking the train might also be familiar with Victoria station on the Circle and District line.

Many cheap hotels are in the Notting Hill Gate area on the red central line which goes to Bank station.

USEFUL WEBSITES
https://tfl.gov.uk
https://art.tfl.gov.uk/projects/permanent-commission-by-daniel-buren/
www.visitlondon.com
www.visitlondonpass.com
www.visitbritain.org

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on London, England and trips worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hotel lobbies and bedrooms viewing an aquarium

Tripadvisor has a list of stunning hotels. These include the Berlin hotel with a cylindrical aquarium in the lobby.

I stayed in a similar hotel, with a cylindrical aquarium in the lobby, in the Silken Grand in Bilbao facing the Guggenheim Museum.

Another aquarium view, this time from the bedroom, is in the suites of bedrooms in a hotel on Sentosa Island, Singapore. You can sit in your sunken bath watching a giant plaice and other fish swim past the picture window looking into the aquarium. Your place or mine? If you were on honeymoon it could be quite distracting. On the other hand, if you were waiting for your partner who was out at a conference or business meeting, or playing sports, it's one way to while away the time pleasantly when stuck in the bedroom.

In the USA at Las Vegas, one hotel has an aquarium behind the reception desk. Most of the big hotels in Las Vegas have fantastic lobbies. No need to book entertainment. You can just go hotel hopping, and shopping and have drinks of coffee in different hotels, seeing animals, birds, flower displays, fountains and more.

If it's waterfalls you want, try Disneyland hotels. Or hotels in Singapore such as the Shangri-la and the Hyatt and Shangri-la.

If you want to go in the water, hotels with infinity pools include one on Bali. (Again, check out Triapadvisor.) My favourite is in Singapore, the Marina Bay sands, on top of the towers. The rooftop bars and restaurants have great views too, for special occasions.

In London, England, restaurants offer views over the Thames. The Shard and the Oxo Tower have
restaurants with views. Be sure when booking to ask for a window seat.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker and author.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotels/9692706/Hotel-rooms-with-unusual-views.html (Berlin hotel)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotels/11360010/The-worlds-best-hotel-pools.html (Shanghai hotel)
http://www.radissonblu.com/hotel-berlin (Cylindrical aquarium in Berlin hotel lobby)

Pinner restaurant L'Orient changing to Shang Chuan Chinese restaurant and bar

Photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot.

The sign says:
Shang Chuan
Chinese fine dining experience
Chinese Restaurant and Bar
Coming soon in June
Previous executive head chef of Hu Tong in the Shard.

What does Shang Chuan mean? According to Wikipedia, Shang Chuan island is a Chinese name derived from the Portuguese for St John.
What does Hu Tong mean? Wikipedia and the Hutong restaurant website agree Hutongs are historic alleys or narrow lanes between grand old houses in Beijing.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author, speaker.
L'Orient/Shang Chuan
58 High Street
Pinner
Middlesex
HA5 5PZ
UK
The Orient phone number is listed as 0208 429 8488.
That number has several 'lucky' eights, lucky in Chinese, so I wonder whether they will keep the phone number.

What to see in Borough Market, London

View of Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, and The Thames river from The Shard. Book at least a day in advance to save £5, bringing the charge per person down from about £30 to about £25.

Opposite The Shard is Borough Market

Notice the tromp l'oeil window in The Market Porter pub on the corner.

A quick coffee at Monmouth Coffee Company shop.

We stopped for a free taste of cheese at Neal's Yard Dairy.

A sign described their paid tasting sessions.

I also saw the sign of Vinopolis which is on my wish list.

The Shard

Monmouth Coffee Conpany Ltd, monmouthcoffee.co.uk Shop 2 Park Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AB. (Also 27 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9EU)

Neal's Yard Dairy, 6 Park Street, (Borough Market), London SE1 9AB

www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/shops_borough.html‎

 Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799. F+44 (0)20 7367 0798. Eboroughshop@nealsyarddairy.co.uk

The View From The Shard, London, England

The Shard attracted our eyes as we left London Bridge station and walked to lively Borough Market. You pick a time slot in the day or evening and we had chosen just before sunset. Careful not to miss our time slot, we arrived early enough for a walk around Borough Market and a coffee at Monmouth Coffee Company. The Shard is an all-jumping tourist attraction with a huge indoor entrance hall with ticket windows.  

We passed through security, like an airport, where they confiscated our pen-knife and Xmas crackers (it was our double-birthday treat). Then stopped for a photo. We took only a few steps and saw our faces on a screen.

Next up in two zooming lifts and out on the lower and larger observation deck of the tower which gets smaller as you get nearer the top. The lower level has floor to ceiling glass windows on all four sides and silhouettes of what you see above head height.  The nearest and most easily identifiable feature is Tower bridge below. (London Bridge, left of it, looks very dull, but if you arrived at London Bridge underground station, it helps to orient you to where you are.)
   The most amazing thing for me was seeing the river Thames winding S shape the way it does on maps, whilst when you are on the ground walking along the banks you always see it ahead of you as a straight line.
   The height is just right. You can see well known landmarks clearly. Down below are the white topf of trains, zooming backwards and forward towards you, the way they do at the end of the classic comedy thriller film starring Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness.
   Even with timed entry it is quite crowded. You have to wait your turn to see out through each of the windows. People pose for photos. Champagne is for sale at about £8 a glass. We rushed from window to window to take sunset photos as couples posed against the sunset for a romantic photo and/or a kiss.

The staircase is beautifully designed, polished wooden steps and red walls and views of the level below.

The second level is quite different. Make sure you see it. Less crowded. Open to the air with a chill wind. Seems much higher. And much smaller. You really feel you are at the top. 

Back on the lower level, having seen the views already, we paid attention to the machines which are free and show you the scene below at different times of day, with the names of landmarks.

On the way back down to the descending lift we found ourselves on a platform with windows showing the different types of clouds and what kind of weather they predicted.

Finally, back at ground level, the shop offered us a range of goods, from pencils and pens at £2 to tee-shirts and maps of London. The gifts are suitable for children and adults, souvenirs for yourself or for tourists to take home.

The souvenir photos cost about £25 (various packages) so I opted for a pencil. A delightful double birthday celebration.

Book at lest a day in advance to save yourself five pounds per person.
Tickets about £25 in advance, just under £30 on the day.
theviewfromtheshard.com

On May 23rd the Shard was hit by lightning. Several online newspapers carried photos.

See my next blog on Borough Market.