Up the Shard

What a lovely surprise for Mother's Day! Was in the shower when the doorbell rang, and answered it wrapped in a towel to be greeted with a delivery: a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers. Then my daughter announced that she had booked tickets for us to go up the Shard today. So we drove to the O2, hopped on the tube to London Bridge and walked across the station straight into the View from the Shard entrance.

London's most dramatic piece of sky-piercing architecture took five years to build, between 2007 and 2012. It takes just 22 seconds by lift to reach the 68th floor, where the views on all four sides are astounding. You can also climb stairs even higher to where there is another, partially-open, viewing floor.

We celebrated at the top with a glass of champagne, but my daughter hannahxd wanted to blip that, so here is an angle that caught my eye. I was tempted to blip the Loo with a View, the glass-sided 'Ladies', but the very thought of it might have made some of you queasy!