Gabi On The Go: Using London Eye to have a better look at London

The day started going back 20 years, on Gower Street.

I took Mike and the girls to see where I used to work as a "chamber maid", as the English people call hotel cleaners.

I worked here, at Arran House Hotel, for about 4 months, but it felt like 4 years.

The work was intense - cleaning other people's mess and climbing up and down stairs for hours - but I also made great friends who took care of me and helped with with my home sickness.

I will never forget this time at Arran House Hotel.

The workers today let us go in and see a bit of the place.

I found out that the hotel was sold in 2011 and until then it was run by the same people.

My biggest surprise is that not much has changed.

Here I am showing the girls the breakfast room and how I used to cook and serve bacon, eggs, toast and beans to people.

To my surprise, the vacuum cleaners are still the same... 20 years later!

Urban message.

I am not sure what this is, but I liked it, as workers were hanging it on a big building wall.

Our main thing todays is the London Eye, also called by the name of the company who sponsors it, but I refuse to do free advertising for them.

This huge Ferris wheel was built here for the millennium celebrations and it was suppose to stay for only 5 years, but it was such a hit that the contract was renewed for another 25 years.

View from right underneath it.

Someone was a bit scared as we started moving up.

Someone else was super excited.

The view is just incredible.

Here, the Parliament and the Big Ben.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Eye

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. As of January 2015, it has been advertised as the Coca-Cola London Eye.

The structure is 443 feet (135 m) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet (120 m). When it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 520 feet (158 m) tall Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 541 feet (165 m) tall Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 550 feet (168 m) High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel".

It is Europe's tallest Ferris wheel, and offered the highest public viewing point in London until it was superseded by the 804 feet (245 m) ^]observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013. It is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made many appearances in popular culture..

The Buckingham Palace and it's gardens.

Another angle of the Thames River.

A single ticket is 23.45 pounds, but you can upgrade it in many ways.

We didn't do any of the other attractions and the line up was fast, maybe 15 minutes.

Totally worth it.

Definitely the London Eye is the main attraction, but I am glad it dragged us out to visit the South Banks area, along the Thames River.

It is such a lively walking path, with lots of cafes, restaurants and activities for the kids.

These crazy designed benches (here two out of four) were tons of fun.

Every child who walked by stoped for a little play.

Another fun part was this artificial beach, which is basically a big (beach) sand box.

It's mostly great for kids, but parents - like Mike - can enjoy it too... maybe taking a siesta.

Ice cream time!

We left South Banks to go shopping a bit at Piccadilly Circus at the end of the afternoon, but we could not miss ice cream time as soon as we got there.

Something new for me: a double ice cream cone, for two different flavours.