The London Eye and Thames Cruise

The London Eye, made for the Millennium, was constructed horizontally over the river and then raised upright. It opened on December 31, 1999. It is the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel with a span of 135 meters.  It seems to pop into view from many different areas of London. 

The Eye can carry over 800 passengers (equal to 11 London double decker buses) per rotation in 32 pods - one for each of the London boroughs. The pods are numbered up to 33 since number 13 was left out. Each pod seats 28 people.

Next I took a Thames River tour which was informational and fun.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

St. Paul's Cathedral, which was designed by Christopher Wren. He also designed the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, Trinity College Library in Cambridge and the facade of Hampton Court Palace.

There are 35 bridges which cross the Thames. Here are a few:

Millennium Bridge, a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the river.

This is the Tower Bridge, built in 1894 and designed to blend in with the Tower of London. 

The obelisk on the right is Cleopatra's Needle, made of red granite and erected by Heliopolis in Egypt about 1500 BC. It was presented to Britain as a thank you for Nelson's victory at the the Battle of the Nile in 1798.