Going up the Shard

I'm going to let you into a little secret, but it may disappoint you.

(It certainly disappointed me.)

Wanna hear it?

The Shard is shorter than the Eiffel Tower.

Don't believe me? It's true! The Shard is 308m tall, the Eiffel Tower is 324m.

Shocker, huh? However, either way, it's still bloody bloody bloody high. Which I had naively not really thought about much, before I booked tickets to go and see the view, for O's birthday. He's a lucky bugger, being born in June, and the sun was shining for his dotage and for once it truly was a beautiful London summer's day.

We first had a nice lunch in Kopapa, Covent Garden, before strolling along the south bank and hanging out on the beach (hurrah!). Then we walked all the way to the Shard, before going in at our allotted time of 7.30pm.

I'd tried to be really organised, and had booked tickets for then hoping we could both watch the sun set as well as get a good view in daylight. But I'd sort of forgotten that in June the sun PROPERLY sets at about 10pm - so alas we gave up, numb-bottomed and sore-kneed, at 9.30pm, after two hours of non-stop staring, and left (there are no benches up there, so it's the floor or standing).

But before we left, we got to see quite a bit. What a view! It is ABSOLUTELY FRICKIN' TERRIFYING. At least, it is if, like me, you are a normal person. However, I seemed to have been the only normal person up on the top of the Shard that day, as no one else seemed even remotely worried about the fact that the only thing standing between us and a 300m drop was one tiny piece of glass. So they were all clearly drunk or on heavy antidepressants.

Meanwhile, I spent much of the time up there clinging to a pillar, thinking in some small way it would save me from imminent death.

Anyway, here's what you get to see up on top of little ol' London... Not bad. Not bad at all.