Wilfred on the South Bank

Hello!  It is me!  Wilfred!  Today I want to tell you about  exploring the South Bank in London with my dads.   

It's me, Wilfie! Living life on Elvaston Place in London with my two dads.

The South Bank is famous to Londoners and visitors, because that is where you find the London Eye -- and you can see the Eye just about everywhere you go in central London (just like you can see the CN Tower from nearly all downtown Toronto).  

On the South Bank, the Eye is hard to miss

For Londoners, the South Bank is a strip along the Thames River that goes from Westminster Bridge (across from Big Ben) down to around Tower Bridge (across from the Tower of London).   On nice days, lots of people go and walk along the river there to catch the action -- because there is lots happening and it is right in the middle of everything.  Near it are four railway stations (Waterloo, Charing Cross, Blackfriars and London Bridge), a whole lot of tube stations (Westminster, Waterloo, Embankment, Blackfriars, Southwark, London Bridge, Monument and Tower Hill) and a bunch of bridges that connect the South Bank to Westminster and the City of London.   We took the tube to Embankment and walked across the Hungerford Bridge.

Embankment Station

South Bank is actually part in the London Borough of Lambeth (across from Westminster) and part in Southwark, which the English pronounce, Suth – uck (across from the City).  Our first stop was the London Eye!

London Eye - dead ahead!

The London Eye looks like a giant's bicycle wheel with 32 people pods that are called capsules.  It was built especially for the millenium year and was supposed to be temporary, but people liked it so much - it stayed up (same thing happened with the Eiffel Tower in Paris, says Dad). 


From the bottom, looking up

It took seven years and hundreds of people from five countries to build the London Eye.  On a clear day, you can see nearly 25 miles from the top -- as far as Windsor Castle! The Eye gets 3.5 million customers every year -- that's the same as 6,680 Boeing 747 jumbo jets.  The London Eye can carry up to 800 passengers -- the same as 11 London red doubled-decker buses.   It travels at 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour so passengers can step on and off without the wheel having to stop.  It takes about half an hour to go all the way around.  Each capsule weighs 10 tonnes and the total weight of the wheel is 2,100 tonnes -- that's about the same as 1,272 London black cabs!  The London Eye is 135m high (the same as 64 red telephone boxes piled on top of each other) making it the fourth tallest structure in all London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf . Poppy was worried we might have to stand in line a long time, but after he bought our tickets we just walked up the long bendy ramp and when we got to the top, a capsule was waiting for us.  We got on with about 8 other people, but the capsule is very roomy and you can move so every one can get a good view. 

Me and Dad...going up!



Getting near the top

Closer

 

 

Wow...

On the way up, we could see the tops of all the buildings.  It was neat to be able to pick out Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace and Hampstead Heath and the Gerkin and St. Pauls.  It was a clear day and at the top, it felt like we were nearly as high as the planes coming into Heathrow.  One warning: on a sunny day, it is hot in there!  Wear a tee shirt so you can take stuff off!

It was fun, but we were glad to get back out into the fresh air.  All around the bottom of the Eye are buskers and street entertainers.  You can get a picture with them, if you put a coin in their box or cup. 

Me with a street performer

This guy knew the blues...

Some of them are very talented


Some just look funny

There is lots of special action this year on the South Bank because it is the 60^th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain.  The Festival of Britain was a big exhibition that was held on the South Bank to help cheer up British people who were still recovering from the Second World War.  There were docks and warehouses and railway stations on the South Bank that got bombed.  The Festival was an excuse to rebuild the South Bank and make it more of a people place like it is today.

This part of London is where you can find the London County Hall (which has shops and exhibits in it) the London Sea Life Aquarium, concert halls like the Royal Festival Hall, The National Theatre and a bunch of famous art galleries -- like the Hayward and the Tate Modern, but this day, we just wanted to soak up the sunshine and the street life.  There were a bunch of amusement rides there and Poppy and Dad said I could go on ONE, "so choose wisely".  I chose a space-age looking simulator that simulated a death-defying roller coaster from the future that shook and banged and rocked like crazy and made REALLY LOUD NOISE!  I had to be accompanied by an adult and Dad won.  Poppy stayed outside and took pictures.



Me and Dad brave the simulator

Outside, the South Bank Centre (that has the concert halls and the Hayward Gallery) there was an art installation that was a lot of sort of beach huts... which was cool to look at. 


Me and Poppy check out the hut art

Underneath the Centre is the South Bank skate and board park that is all painted with graffitti and where teenagers come to do board and bike stunts. 

And then my favorite part, was somebody trucked in tonnes and tonnes of sand, and they turned part of the cement walk way into a beach! 



The South Bank beach!

After a bit of a relax, where Dad helped me dig in the sand, Poppy wanted to walk on.  We walked through an underpass where there is a big used book market to get where Poppy wanted to go.

South Bank used book market



 He wanted to get a picture of a statue of a famous actor named Laurence Olivier.  He is dressed as a Shakespeare character named Hamlet and you can find him in front of the National Theatre, where Poppy and Daddy have gone to see shows. 



Us at the National Theatre

 

Me, Dad and Laurence Olivier

  There are a couple of statues there.  I found one of two ladies and I joined them for a sit down.
  

Me and two ladies

We strolled on following the walk and the crowd.  We went out on the little wharves to see the river views.  At one point we saw some sand castle makers making crazy sand sculptures in the Thames River sand at low tide. 

The knights are getting shorter?  What does that even mean?

A tour guide once told us that it used to be illegal to put up signs and billboards along the Thames river front.  A soup company built a new factory in South Bank but swore they did not break the law -- it was just a coincidence that the pattern in their bricks seemed to spell their name.  The judge agreed.  

Can you guess the company's name?

Because of construction, we had to take a bit of a detour -- away from the river for a short hop down Southwark Street.


Me and Poppy on Southwark

Lately, Dad has telling me the story of a book he is reading that he read a long time ago, but wants to read again while we are in London.   It is about a boy named Oliver Twist.   Dad remembered that in real life the author's family had been locked in debtor's prison in Southwark and that the author, who was only ten years old, was put to work in a boot black factory. Dad told me that story and we thought about that as we stopped to look at the old Southwark alms house. 

Old Southwark Alms House 

Back at the Thames, we were now at the Tate Modern, across from St. Pauls Cathedral.  But before we crossed the Millenium footbridge to find our tube stop for home, Poppy wanted to show me one more thing.  On the opposite side of the bridge is Shakespeare's Globe theatre.  It is not the real Globe theatre, it is brand new, but it was built just like real olden day theatre and it is near where the olden day one stood.  Poppy said that 400 years ago, London's theatres were built here outside the city.  He took a tour of the Globe and he wants Dad to come with him to see a Shakespeare play.  Poppy says that he wants to see it just the way people did in the olden days, when there were no seats and the audience was in what was called the pit and everybody stood.  Dad said if they have to stand, could they not see "Hamlet" since it is Shakespeare's longest play.  If he is standing, he would rather see "As You Like It" and he would like it under ninety minutes.

Me and Poppy at the Globe

Well, that is all for now.  Check back next week when I will have more London adventures. Talk to you then, Wilfie!