People of all ages from around the country are making special journeys to see this new and exciting giant Wheel and to participate in the excitement of being transported high above London. Visitors to London from abroad, are delighted by this new and novel way of seeing the city from a birds eye view. Visitors are treated to a 30 minute ride in space age capsules holding 25 people each, hopping on and off as the wheel moves. The attraction has the capacity to handle 1,500 visitors every hour. An increasingly popular idea is to visit the Eye at night time when the view is perhaps at its most magical.

Well-known buildings of central London are spread out in a great panorama before you; it is fun to see how many you can identify. Some to look out for are; The Imperial War Museum; The Globe Theatre; The Oval Cricket Ground; The Tate Gallery; Westminster Abbey; The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben; The Tower of London; St. Paul’s Cathedral; The National Portrait Gallery; Buckingham Palace; The British Museum; The Telecommunications Tower.

The architects of the London Eye are husband and wife team, Julia Barfield and David Marks, winners of the competition for ideas to mark the Millennium, their design was considered to be the most imaginative project conceived. Three years of work went into the project to get the giant Wheel designed and built.

An observation wheel was built for Chicago’s Worlds Columbian Exposition in 1893, it became known as the Ferris wheel, after the designer whose name has been synonymous with these wheels ever since. Observation or Ferris wheels, have been included at many of the great expositions throughout the world, and are considered to be traditional structures at great occasions of celebration. David and Julia thought of the wheel as representing the turning of the century.