Clinging to Mr Sk’s arm
and I was certain I wasn’t letting go! Hearing him chuckle at me from where he
was standing beside me he started to explain he was only moving an inch forward
to look out the window giving me the ultimatum that I either moved with him or
stood on my own in the spot I was currently stood in. He knew fine well that I
was too feart to move forward but I wasn’t removing my firm grip that I had of his
arm until I was back on normal ground. I had no choice but to move forward with
him.
Where was I? I was stood
on a floor that was 310 metres high in what is known as Europe’s tallest
building otherwise known as The Shard trying to tell myself I’m being a drama
queen and its perfectly okay to leave Mr Sk alone. (I hate heights).
I never knew I had a
fear of heights until only ten years ago when I froze at the top of the Rockefeller
Centre in New York and had to ask my friend to take me downstairs. It’s a funny
feeling I get yet it doesn’t stop me from doing things, just makes me act like
an idiot until I get on to a normal level of ground. Thankfully Mr Sk knew of
my height fear so he was well aware I would be clinging to him even before we
started to head up inside the tower.
Sadly we hadn’t managed
to fit in a visit to The Shard
when we were in London in July so as sweet as it was Mr Sk had decided to surprise
me with a treat visit to The Shard when we were back in London in December. However
for someone like myself with a fear/dislike to heights a visit to The Shard was not on my list,
I would’ve much preferred a pair of new shoes however we had tickets to biggest
building in Europe and there was me shivering like a wreck at the top of it.
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| View from The Shard. |
The Shard came about when its
owner and creator Irvine Sellar declared he wanted to make a “vertical vision”
writes The Shard of a
combination of offices, shops, bars, apartments and restaurants. The idea was
to allow the people of London to experience the views across the city. After
meeting the well-known architect Renzo Piano a brief creation of The Shard was drawn up. Challenges followed in 2008 sadly when the
economic downturn meant finances were withdrawn from the building’s plan diminishing
it’s future. However, the state of Qatar stepped in as a new partner to assure
building continued and finally in 2012 The Shard was opened with the
viewing platform opening later in 2013.
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| View from The Shard. |
The Shard host’s offices,
apartments, hotels and restaurants including the Hutong, Oblix and Aqua Shard bars, which take centre spotlight of
today’s blog. The building really is beautiful (even from me that’s afraid of
heights) there is no other building like it.
We did our tourist guide thing and walked round the
building. Although the building is extremely steep, there are only three main
floors for the tourists to get out and see the building but again both floors
are very high up. The first two floors we were allowed out at were 68 and 69
where we could walk freely around the building seeing panoramic views of London
but it was floor 72 that took our breaths away. This is the ultimate beauty of
the tower with the designed roof half off so you are out in the open but when
stepping out on the floor you don’t realise it. I only realised we were out in
the open when the wind picked up and the staff were walking about with jackets
and scarves on. You’re not aware you are out in the open until you turn the
corner and realise there isn’t a glass barrier in front of you. Not a floor for
the faint hearted I tell you but even with my own fear it is very much worth a
look at for the views. There is the chance to have your own private viewing at
night but it costs a lot more money and we wanted to squeeze in as many
adventures on the trip to London as possible.
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| Got to love a selfy stick. |
Once the tour was over we were quite tempted to see
what it was like to eat or drink in TheShard. Now Sheesh (see previous
blogs) was out of our league to begin so we were pushing it completely with The
Shard (financial wise). The Shard is located right in the middle of London and
very appropriate for those consumers of the upper end of the market scale,
meaning it was completely out of our price range. We chanced our luck and gave
it a go. We ended up in Gong
lounge, part of the Shangri- La
hotel built within The Shard. To stay one night in The Shard the price ranges
from £300 - £700.
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| Drinks at The Shard |
To head to the
restaurants and bars section of TheShard you need to come out of the original building and go through a
different door to head up towards the restaurants, not before going through
security. Walking through the hallways and using the elevators I began to feel
a bit out of place, slightly uneasy. We immediately knew The Shard was out of our
depth; never the less we headed towards one of the bars. We were welcomed by a
group of beautiful, immaculate dressed members of staff, all wearing the same
floor length gown. Politely spoken to and attending to every need we were
informed there was a six month waiting list for the restaurants however we
could have drinks in the bar if we wished. The only rule was, it was a minimum
spend if we chose to have drinks in the lounge.
The view was breath taking
and worth every penny. Mr Sk and myself spent a couple of hours sat at the
window with some drinks and enjoyed our afternoon- after all it isn’t every day
you get to have drinks at The Shard.
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| Drinks at The Shard. |
The venue is just
beautiful- literally out of this world. Guests are provided with 360 degree and
panoramic views of London. Even for a person with a fear of heights it is
beautiful (least in the bar I was sitting down). The view is outstanding;
something we don’t often get to see back home but it is truly breath taking.
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| Drinks at The Shard. |
London is one of my
favourite places to visit and if you are ever in London I truly recommend
having drinks in The Shard. The staff makes you feel welcomed and attend to
every need. It is a very relaxed atmosphere, which was nice to find as I had
presumed with the clientele being very high end Mr Sk and I would’ve been
frowned upon but that wasn’t the case. We were made to feel very welcome. The
Shard is definitely a place to go for drinks whilst you are visiting London; it
is very much a special treat to indulge in.
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| The Shard |
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