When Susan asked if I was interested in visiting the London Eye, I thought she was talking about the city’s well-known camera/surveillance system or something. She wasn’t. She was talking about the 45-story tall Ferris wheel in downtown London… which we rode.

Unlike a traditional Ferris Wheel, the London Eye consists of enclosed capsules. There are 32 capsules, numbered 1-33 (there is no capsule 13). They say each capsule can hold up to 25 people, although there were only 7 in ours. There’s around bench in the middle people can sit on and handrails all the way around so you can look out the glass walls.

The Eye doesn’t really stop so you have to watch your step when entering your capsule. The whole thing rotates pretty slowly so it’s not too hard. Once inside… off you go.

There are a few buildings next to the river that you can use to gauge how high you are. You can see Big Ben and other sites… but you keep checking those buildings. We were even with the 5th floor… and then the 10th flood… and then the 20th floor… and then over the building. And then way over the building. If you’re looking for an aerial view of London, the London Eye offers one heck of one.

Because the thing moves so slowly, it never really feels like you’re moving. It’s just up and up and up and then down and down and down and all of a sudden, it’s over. The time flew, but according to my watch it took about 30 minutes to go all the way around.