In the middle of February, I had a trip to the Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building (also known as 20 Fenchurch Street) booked. The Sky Garden at the top of the tower was open for a few weeks to the public shortly after it opened. I remember seeing the Walkie Talkie building being built, from a hole in the ground to concrete frame to the addition of steel in the sky.
The building does dominate the London skyline and looks a little bit imposing. Of course, the building was in the news in the summer of 2013 because the curved glass was reflecting onto the ground below, and the heat from this was melting cars.
When I arrived at 20 Fenchurch Street, I stood at the foot of the tower and looked up into the sky. I entered the building to go through to security, and my bag was put through a security scanner. I was then ushered to the lifts. The lifts are quick enugh, but they actually seem to be a little problematic as they stopped half of the way down on my way out and jutted. I was actually really worried for a moment, but they corrected themselves and I made it safely down. I spoke to the security person, and he did mention that they had had problems with them.
Upon arriving at the top via the lift, the first view was of the open space with the Shard directly in front. There is an outside area to admire the view more, but this was shut when I visited, so the view of the Shard and Tower Bridge and Thames was obstructed. However, turning to the right, we saw beautiful views over the west of the City, Thames, and London.
I could see the BT Tower in west London and also Big Ben and the London Eye, amongst other landmarks. I could see the building where I used to work off of Cannon Street, above Cannon Street station. The two brown turrets mark the spot!
St. Paul's Cathedral is fairly close, and I got some decent photographs of it, but it is currently obstructed by the construction work of the new Bloomberg Place building. This is being built over the location of the Temple of Mithras and over the top of one of London's lost rivers, the Walbrook, and this has preserved the Roman artefacts that have been discovered there, including timber building frames, clothing, jewellery, pottery, and other artefacts. Apparently, the artefacts will be available to view in the new building once it is constructed.
The architect of the Walkie Talkie, Rafael Viñoly, had the vision for the Sky Garden as a public garden area. This feature helped to win the bid to create a tower here as it's just outside the main cluster of towers.
The main area facing south where I entered via the lift contains the bar area, known as Sky Pod Bar. There are two restaurants at the top as well as the bar, which also does snacks and sandwiches. Darwin Brasserie is one of those restaurants, and it serves British cuisine. The other is seafood restaurant Fenchurch Seafood Bar and Grill.
I climbed the steps, with views of the garden on my right and views of London on my left. The Sky Garden winds its way from one side of the top of the tower to the other. It includes plants, flowers, and tropical trees.
I took some flower photographs.
At the top of this and on the other side (north) are the views of the other towers, such as Gerkin and Leadenhall and Tower 42. These views are obstructed, though. There's seating along the length of this area.
I walked to the other side of the Walkie Talkie and got photographs of east London. I could see Canary Wharf, the Olympic Stadium, Tower of London, and Tower Bridge.
The views over the Tower of London and Tower Bridge were the most beautiful.
I continued to walk down the steps on this other side, snapping away.
I noticed that throughout the visit, some workers were on top of the building and outside. They must not be afraid of the heights at all.
The top of the Sky Garden had mister machines that would go off every now and again to keep the plants misty and cool.
At the very top, there's a balcony in front of one of the restaurants where you can stand higher to get more views directly below and south of the Thames. London Bridge can be seen directly in front, and the gold spire in the foreground is Monument. Old Billingsgate fish market (no longer operating as a fish market) could also be seen.
The views over the garden with London in the background were beautiful.
After the look around, I headed over to Sky Pod Bar.
I admired the view of the Shard in front of me.
I ordered butternut squash soup and a cocktail known as "Chelsea Garden". The cocktails are particularly expensive at 11.00 or 12.00 pounds a pop! The butternut squash soup was tasty. I admired the views of the Shard as I had my soup and cocktail.
After finishing my meal, it was time to leave, and I took a final photograph of the Walkie Talkie building.
Have you visited the Sky Garden on the Walkie Talkie tower yet? What did you think of it?
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