High Cuisine

[major_clanger]

When I was very young my parents took me to the rotating restaurant on top of what was then called the Post Office Tower (now sadly closed to the public, although I've been back for a BT corporate event). Today, thanks to alexmc's kind invitation, I was able once again to have lunch 550 feet above the London streets, this time at the pinnacle of 30 St Mary Axe, alias the Gherkin.

I've long admired the Gherkin from the outside, and it was nice to finally get to see it from within. The top floor bar is actually a domed bubble, accessed by staircase from a foyer below. There's a small disabled lift, although I suspect it's really a Supervillain HQ Escape Pod in disguise. This layout means that there's no space for lift machinery at the top, so you change lifts at floor 34 to one that pushes you up from below. Once in the roof space the view is simply incredible, even on a gloomy and dull day like today.




West:



South:



East, and the Tower:



Reputedly the very top panel is the only round pane of glass in the building:



It's certainly a fine place for a quick drink at lunch.




High-altitude dining done, I headed off to do some shopping, during which I was called by ms_cataclysm and summoned to a meeting at Fortnum and Masons, where some extremely nice ice-cream was tackled with much enthusiasm. Finally, it was down to St Paul's and over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern to catch the end of the 'Street and Studio' photography exhibition. Some amazingly good photos including this wonderful Cartier-Bresson shot, which is compositionally wonderful in half a dozen different ways whilst still being a spur-of-the-moment snapshot. Also, some very thought-provoking pictures in terms of the ethics of candid photography; I'll have to see if I can blog more on this later.

Comments

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

goodness the river is high and brown... I've eaten in the private dining rooms at the Gherkin twice and they are nice too - much smaller and more like the offices, with with an airy feeling even to the rooms that aren't on the circumference

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool!

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I like the first photo - I think I'll use it when people need a photo of me :-)

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Photos very impressive !

p.s. had dreams of ski-ing down a mountain of ice cream - perhaps Fortnum & Mason's portions are a little generous...

[techiebabe.livejournal.com]

OMG that is just so cool.

Sorry, I don't have anything coherent to add.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Photos very nice - but how was the food?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Let's say 'nice but you are paying for the view'.