Monday, March 16, 2015

Sky Garden at the Walkie Talkie in London

Actual date of this event: 13 March

Yeah, yeah, I'm jumping way ahead here. I figure this is an easy one, so I might as well do it right now.

The Walkie Talkie is one of London's iconic skyscrapers. Located at 20 Fenchurch Street, it is nicknamed the Walkie Talkie because, well, it looks like a walkie talkie. It is a fairly new building in London's skyline as it was only completed in spring 2014. It has a famous history to it already though! In the summer of 2013, businesses and vehicles nearby discovered that the building's shape was like a mirror. And when the sun shined directly onto this mirror, it reflected light so great and heat so hot that carpets caught fire. And vehicles melted. Since then, the windows now have a tinted screen to prevent anymore damage. Unbelievable!
 {Neither of these pictures were taken on Friday - they are old. But the Walkie Talkie is the building on the far right in the above picture.}
Anyway, at the beginning of this year, the top level of the Walkie Talkie opened to the public. It includes a few restaurants, a cafe and bar, and a free garden area. Since Luke and I love views, free activities, and his office is just around the corner from the Walkie Talkie, I decided we should visit the Sky Garden. Although the Sky Garden is free, tickets are still required I guess for crown control. I booked us tickets over two months ago to go during his lunch hour on Friday. To get in to the elevator, we had to go through a security check which I already knew about from information on the ticket. We were then sent up to the 35th floor, which isn't all that high, but it is enough for London.














It wasn't the most beautiful of days (we actually had three days of straight sunshine before this), but it was clear enough. This was the third skyscraper I have been up in London (after The Shard and the Heron Tower), and I might like this view the best, but The Shard definitely puts up a serious fight. It was fun playing tourist with Luke though during the week. We should probably do things like this more often!

RANDOM FACT:
The Walkie Talkie is 525ft tall, almost half the size of The Shard and not even a fifth of the height of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building (in Dubai).

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