Views from the Gherkin

A couple of weeks ago I dragged Lesley along to the top floor of the Gherkin for some champagne at the Searcy's bar there. It was pretty expensive (£15 a glass, so my sister might have a point when she says I've got more money than sense), but for the experience of going up a tall building in London and taking photos, it was worth the money.

The light on the day wasn't great, unfortunately, and it had been raining just before we got there, so the photos aren't the best quality (although some of them do have a kind of vintage cinema sheen to them because they're a bit fuzzy). However the views were amazing, and we had fun playing spot-the-landmark, and in my case, spot-the-buildings-I've-been-to-before.

The Gherkin is one of those buildings that looks quite delicate from afar, and then you get up close and you realise it's flipping massive.

The bar is actually right in the top of the building:

Very tall buildings and raindrops:

(I have briefly been to the bar in this one and posted photos here: http://metropolithan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/views-from-heron-tower.html)

View towards Canary Wharf:

Two stupid buildings (seriously, what is that one on the left doing?):

Tower Bridge/Tower of London/City Hall etc.:

And finally, the building on the right of this picture (with the red umbrellas) is the Allen and Overy officers, where I went last year as part of Open House (pics here: http://metropolithan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/open-hooooooouse-2015-9.html).

St Mary Axe

The street is named after a church which used to occupy the site. The church was closed in 1560, which makes it quite unusual in the City as most of the pre-Wren churches got burned down. And apparently it claimed to have one of the three axes used by Attila the Hun to behead 11,000 virgins said to have accompanied Saint Ursula on a mission to convert the heathens.

OF COURSE.

But, honestly, most people know St Mary Axe because of the 590ft high ridiculous Norman Foster designed Gherkin.

Ah, the Gherkin. Not my favourite shiny new building (that’s not even finished yet, but trust me, we'll get to it), but it definitely makes an impact. Although, let's be honest, since you found out about the axe (and that they thought it was worth showing off), you don't care so much about the Gherkin, do you?