Liftoff

The doors opened at 10:00 exactly and we quickly walked up the steps to the airport style security check. I was quite reassured about this since I suspect the top of the UK’s highest building is a prime terrorist target. Moments later we were in the lift and ready for take off. I have to say that the Shard’s lifts were a revelation in that apart from the LED floor counter and your ears popping it wasn’t possible to tell that you were actually moving. This seemed incredible since the floor counter was moving so fast, I wondered if it was all simply a trick, they’d open the doors and we’d find that we were still on the ground floor. The floor counter stopped at Level 33 and our merry group transferred to another lift. With the same speed and similar non-sensation of no movement, the lift scooted us up to Level 68, the viewing level. Eventually we were  met by a blonde haired chap in a rhubarb coloured suit. Behind him, through a bank of glass walling, was the most incredible sight of London that you could ever wish to have. 

Visitor Levels

Rhubarb Man turned out to be Chris, our Shard greeter. He turned out to be a mine of information and gave us instructions about how to either use the lift or stairs to get up to the Skydeck. Level 69 was an indoor viewing area and Level 72 the Skydeck. As if those few extra levels really mattered at this kind of height, Iron Man and I scooted off up the stairs to the Skydeck. This was as far as we could go. I felt like planting a Union Jack somewhere. The Skydeck is open air and this does add an additional level of vulnerability that you don’t perceive at the indoor viewing area on Level 69. It was freezing cold and there was a real sense of exposure. It is of course perfectly safe in that there are high windows surround the Skydeck. I have to confess that initially I had a slight reluctance to approach the windows too closely to take photos. The view directly down to street level was disturbing and took a few moments to get used to. Occasionally I felt the sensation of the building moving. The Shard is designed to move by up to 40cm, but you can’t actually feel it. Chris confirmed later that what we were actually feeling was vertigo and that eventually it would go (and it did). The Shard has 95 levels, but this was the last habitable one. The levels above the Skydeck are used for services. The floor area of the Skydeck didn’t seem massive, which again added to the exposure. The views from it were amazing. 

London

London stretched out in every direction. The views certainly put the scale of the city into perspective. Buildings rolled out to the horizon in all directions. There was no countryside as far as I could see. Looking northwards, there was a group of equally tall buildings; this was the City. Down below I could see HMS Belfast, The Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The Thames then snaked its way around to the high towers of Canary Wharf. Railway lines approached from the southeast and then separated into the platform lines of London Bridge station directly below us. Over to the south, in the far distance, I could see a large mast. Chris mentioned later that occasionally tourists mistake this for the Eiffel Tower. It is the 109m high transmitting station mast at Crystal Palace. Over to the south and southwest, I could see more railway lines snaking their way towards London Bridge. Further westwards along the Thames I could see the four chimneys of the old Battersea Power Station. The Houses Of Parliament, Big Ben and the Eye were easier to see. The route we’d walked this morning to get to the Shard from Blackfriars was clearly visible. Along this route was the large brick chimney of the Tate Modern Gallery and I could see little figures making their way across the Millennium Bridge. St Pauls Cathedral was visible of course and I could also make out the Bank of England. It was a cloudy day, but occasionally sunlight would break through and illuminate a small patch of London. The views were absolutely stunning. 

Falcon

‘If you look to the southwest you will see a bird. That’s a falcon that we use to chase away pigeons.’ Chris had announced this information over a tannoy. I headed over to the southwest side of the building and sure enough there was a Peregrine flying just  200m or so from the Skydeck. I took out my camera and zoomed in, but I couldn’t find it on my lcd screen in the huge expanse of sky. I settled for just watching. He flew along the south face of the building and then disappeared to the east. Chris happened to be walking by and so I asked him about the falcon. He told me that his name was Guido and was brought to the Shard on a regular basis to chase away the pigeons. ‘He’s trained not to kill them, just chase them away’ he added. I wondered how on earth you’d train a predator not to kill something. I was surprised that pigeons would fly this high, but a quick Google search revealed that they can reach altitudes up to 1.8Km (4-5 Shards height). It was getting very cold on the Skydeck and so I retreated down to Level 68 to grab a coffee with Ironman. 

Shard Talk

Some people were drinking flutes of  champagne at the bar. One of the ticket options includes a complementary glass of Champagne or cocktail. I was still getting the odd bout of vertigo and so I decided to stick to caffeine. Ironman was travelling back home this afternoon and so had to leave. It had been good to catch up with him over the last 3 days. Once he’d departed for the lift, I was about to head back to the Skydeck to take some more photos, when Chris announced that he would be doing a talk on the Shard in a few minutes. That sounded interesting and so I stuck around near the bar area to listen. 

The talk by the Shard greeter was free with my ticket and I thoroughly recommend that you attend it. His talk was interesting, engaging and very funny. He’d obviously honed his craft over a long period. He went into the history and design of the building. He told us how the windows are cleaned…manually cleaned by people in a cradle. There are areas that are not accessible by the cradles and the window cleaners have to abseil down to them. I suspect they get paid a bit more than the ones that clean the windows on my estate back home. He asked if anybody had been to the toilet yet. A few people put up  their hand. He then asked how many people had taken a photo of the toilet. The same few people kept their hand up. He recommended that everybody should visit the toilet once on their Shard experience and he guaranteed that they’d take a photo. His talk lasted about 20 minutes, but seemed less. That rhubarb suit must have had electric heaters in it since I was still shivering with hat, gloves and several layers of clothing on. 

Back To Earth

I had one more tour of the Skydeck and then decided it was time to move on. Tower Bridge was next on my itinerary. Of course, I had to visit the toilet before I left. There’s no need for a laxative when using the toilet since there’s a vertical drop down to London Bridge railway station right next to you. Equally unnerving is peeing in full view of the City of London. I find it hard to start if someone’s watching anyway and so you can imagine how difficult it was with half of London on the other side of the window. Later on in the day, I zoomed into the Shard’s Visitor Level with my camera from terra-firma and found you couldn’t see into the toilet. I did this in the interests of researching the science of optics, rather than any kinky perversion. No, you can’t see in; maybe it’s one-way glass. I'm not sure if you get some sort of prior warning when its window cleaning day though.

The lifts swiftly took me back down to ground level with that curious non-feeling I wasn't moving. They are a little like the Transporters in Star Trek. I exited the building and looked back up at the top. Had I really been up there moments before? 

The Shard was probably the highlight of my 5 day London campaign. It was an amazing experience for £19. The views were spectacular. The open Skydeck gave that extra feeling of exposure and the talk by the Shard greeter was an unexpected bonus. There was just a great atmosphere to the whole experience. In a couple of days time I’d actually go up slightly higher to the public viewing level at Horizon 22 in the City. It was free and I enjoyed that too. It offered a different experience to the Shard though, in that you could look down on nearby skyscrapers whereas The Shard was standalone.  The atmosphere was a bit more sterile at Horizon 22. If I had a preference, it would be for The Shard, but I’d definitely go up both if the opportunity arose.