On Top of the World

Since arriving in Richmond, I have had the opportunity to do so many amazing things and see many amazing landmarks. During the first week we were taken into London to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben but we never got the chance to go near the London Eye. After seeing it from a distance many times, I had made it my goal to go on and see the whole city from one of the highest points possible. I had heard that going at night was the best time to go on because the whole city is being illuminated. One weekend some friends and I wanted to go into London and we decided the tube would be the best way to get there. By this point we felt like we have mastered the district line, which is the main tube line we take into London and back to school, and felt comfortable taking it with just a small group of people. Once we got on the tube, we picked a random stop to get off at. To our surprise when we walked outside, we were right underneath Big Ben and the London Eye was to the left of it. We had no specific plans for that night so I considered it fate and convinced some of my group members to go on the London eye with me. After waiting on line for a little while, we purchased our tickets and got onto another line that was right underneath the eye. Surprisingly the line moved rather quickly and the people in line were sectioned off to additional lines that lead into different pods. Something that I found really interesting was that the pods never stop moving and everyone has to quickly step on before the doors close. Luckily my friends and I were at the front of our line so we were the first people to get onto the pod. We quickly jumped on and headed straight to the front of the pod so we could get the best views of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the city. The pods moved so slowly that we could not physically tell we were moving we just noticed that we were getting taller than the buildings we were looking at. The view from the top of the eye was absolutely magnificent and I am so glad that I had the chance to experience it. Even though we have almost been here for half of our stay and there is a lot that I have done, there is still a lot more I want to see and more adventures to be had.