View from The Shard

Back in September last year, when tickets first became available to visit the viewing platform at The Shard in London, we booked. It was always going to be a bit of a gamble weather wise but we wanted to go see the view at the first possible opportunity.

This morning we woke up to large snow flakes falling out of the sky, not a good start. Until we reached Beaconsfield on the M40 it looked like we might have a severely restricted level of visibility but then it all seemed to vanish as we hit the outskirts of London. We bought lunch and despite a bit of rain, ate in St. James Park as well as having lots of fun feeding the squirrels and assorted bird life. Annie got mugged by pigeons who stole her hazelnuts!!!

After lunch we headed over to The Shard. We've blipped this building a couple of times before (Annie works close by when she's in London) but today instead of looking up, we'd be looking down!

The lifts were rapid and before we knew it, we were on the viewing platform on the 68th floor. Wow, even with restricted vision the view was fabulous. We walked up to the 72nd floor where you are in part open to the elements with the 'shards' no longer enclosing you at this level. It started snowing at this point but still the view both out and up towards the very top (78th level) was fabulous. Familiar buildings and the skyline took on a very different scale from here.

From a photography perspective reflections and rain dripping down the glass were a challenge but there will always be a chance to go again on a sunny day!!!