LONDON EYE, CONTEMPLATING LONDON UNDER OUR FEET

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have visited London Eye, the famous wheel situated on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.

 

Núria and Mari Winsor suffer from vertigo and they have prefer to study some English grammar with To Have Got verb and Prepositions of Place.

 

More information: To Have Got

 

More information: Prepositions of Place

 

More information: House & Furniture Exercises

The London Eye or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.

It is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made many appearances in popular culture.

The structure is 135 metres tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres.

When it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 160-metre Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 165-metre Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 167-metre-tall High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its operators as the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel.

The London Eye used to offer the highest public viewing point in London until it was superseded by the 245-metre-high observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013.

The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens, previously the site of the former Dome of Discovery, on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge beside County Hall, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

The London Eye was designed by the husband-and-wife team of Julia Barfield and David Marks of Marks Barfield Architects. Mace was responsible for construction management, with Hollandia as the main steelwork contractor and Tilbury Douglas as the civil contractor. Consulting engineers Tony Gee & Partners designed the foundation works while Beckett Rankine designed the marine works.

The rim of the Eye is supported by tensioned steel cables and resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel. The lighting was re-done with LED lighting from Color Kinetics in December 2006 to allow digital control of the lights as opposed to the manual replacement of gels over fluorescent tubes.

The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the Thames on barges and assembled lying flat on piled platforms in the river. Once the wheel was complete it was lifted into an upright position by a strand jack system made by Enerpac. It was first raised at 2 degrees per hour until it reached 65 degrees, then left in that position for a week while engineers prepared for the second phase of the lift.

More information: The London Eye

The project was European with major components coming from six countries: the steel was supplied from the UK and fabricated in The Netherlands by the Dutch company Hollandia, the cables came from Italy, the bearings came from Germany (FAG/Schaeffler Group), the spindle and hub were cast in the Czech Republic, the capsules were made by Poma in France and the glass for these came from Italy, and the electrical components from the UK.

The London Eye was formally opened by the Prime Minister Tony Blair on 31 December 1999, but did not open to the paying public until 9 March 2000 because of a capsule clutch problem.

The nearest London Underground station is Waterloo, although Charing Cross, Embankment, and Westminster are also within easy walking distance.

Connection with National Rail services is made at London Waterloo station and London Waterloo East station.

London River Services operated by Thames Clippers and City Cruises stop at the London Eye Pier.

More information: Visit London

When I was a youngster my grandparents
took me sightseeing and we went on the London Eye.

Stuart Broad

'ELEVATOR PITCH': CREATING AN ALIBI IN 2 MINUTES

The Beans on the top of the Empire State

Today, The Beans have lived an intensive day. The family is still in New York City enjoying the city and its sights and working to improve their English. 

They have talked about the Adverbs of Frequency and the Prepositions of Place and Direction.

More info: Adverbs of Frequency

Firstly, the family has been involved in a terrible scandal when a local newspaper has accused them of being the main suspects of the fire in Trump's Tower. Without time to call the best lawyers, the family has demonstrated that if you work together you have more possibilities of success and they have been preparing their alibis. After being interrogated by the Metropolitan Police, all of them have returned to the hotel free of charges and without any doubt about their innocence. It's always better to have a good relationship with the Police.

Download Furniture Vocabulary

Next, The Beans have decided to visit the Empire State, a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the building has a roof height of 380 m and stands a total of 443.2 m tall, including its antenna.

Eli Bond-Bean and King Kong

The site of the Empire State Building, located on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets, was originally part of an early 18th century farm. In the late 1820s, it came into the possession of the prominent Astor family, with John Jacob Astor's descendants building the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel on the site in the 1890s. By the 1920s, the family had sold the outdated hotel and the site indirectly ended up under the ownership of Empire State Inc., a business venture that included businessman John J. Raskob and former New York governor Al Smith. 

Download Transport Vocabulary

The original design of the Empire State Building was a for a 50-story office building. However, after fifteen revisions, the final design was for a 86-story building, with an airship mast on top. This ensured it would be the world's tallest building, beating the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street, two other Manhattan skyscrapers under construction at the time that were also vying for that distinction.

The Beans and their rescue plan

When they were leaving the building, they have been astonished to see that Eli Bond-Bean was on the top of it kidnapped by King Kong. Quickly, they have thought a rescue plan to liberate Eli from King Kong's hands. The plan has been a total success.

Then, the family has decided to go to the zoo and talk with the bosses about a King Kong's adoption. They had got another point here. The zookeepers have never thought about this possibility but they have accepted The Beans' proposal.

The Prospect Park Zoo is a 4.9 ha zoo located off Flatbush Avenue on the eastern side of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City. Its precursor, the Menagerie, opened in 1890. The present facility first opened as a city zoo on July 3, 1935, and was part of a larger revitalization program of city parks, playgrounds and zoos initiated in 1934 by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. It was built, in large part, through Civil Works Administration and Works Project Administration (WPA) labour and funding.

More information: Transports

The Beans with Barbra in her apartment

Finally, the family was exhausted. They have lived too many emotions in a day. The Grandma has received an incredible phone call.  

Barbra Streisand was on the other side of the line and she has invited all the family to a private concert in her apartment to relax and charge batteries.

Hold the line, Barbra! I'm going to talk with my family about your invitation. 

Barbra? Are you there? It's an enormous pleasure for us to come to your home and assist to your private concert. Taking profit of your trust, I would like to listen to "If you go way". 

See you later, my friend.

All I know is just what I read in the papers, 

and that's an alibi for my ignorance. 

Will Rogers

IF WE VISIT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, WE WILL...

Noemí, Pedro and David Bond in New York City

Today, The Bonds are practising some Social English and some grammar like Prepositions of Place and Direction, Zero and First Conditionals and Modal Verbs (Must).

More info: Zero & First Conditional

They are working together to demonstrate Juanjo and Irene Bond's innocence and they are creating little guides about the most important places of New York City.

The Grandma is talking about some universal painters like Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Francisco de Goya and their influence while the whole family is visiting The Metropolitan Museum. She's a fan of Joan Miró although her favourite painting is The Pantocrator of Sant Climent de Taüll in La Vall de Boí, a part of the Romanesque art inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 and which is now exposed in the MNAC in Barcelona.

Download The Metropolitan Museum by The Bonds

Tomorrow, the family is talking about music, peace and love.

Every production of an artist should be 

the expression of an adventure of his soul. 

W. Somerset Maugham