Well, have any of yous seen the Belfast Eye that's just been erected in the grounds of the City Hall?
Very impressive when you first see it, though it'll probably be £30 to get on it just to see the lough and the black mountain.
I know there was a version of it in the 70s on the top of Unity Flats....
i was in the city centre on saturday when thay had just put up the legs to it, and i must say it did look impressive!!
i will have to see what price they are going to charge before deciding whether to take a spin on it or not!!
Yip
seen it yesterday, mind you was standing nearly underneath it for 10 minutes before i noticed it, Monday mornings!!!
Is it actually totally erected now?
Anyone have any idea when it opens and how much it will cost??
It's up and all - people hanging around the square taking photos of it. I'll show ye mine next time I see ye, GDA.
Why can't they do something original for once?
FAM thought you were in meetings all day?
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on October 23, 2007, 01:31:54 PM
Is it actually totally erected now?
Anyone have any idea when it opens and how much it will cost??
Not yet, i usually have to wait to the weekend when the missus is p*ssed......
I am - away to it now again. Even I have to have lunch!
It's opening in November some time. Is only due to stay until March, although this may change.
Quote from: ziggysego on October 23, 2007, 01:38:17 PM
Why can't they do something original for once?
It's not unique to London though - loads of cities have had one. Manchester had one relatively recently. The wheels are not permanent and are moved around the place. It's a Dutch company installing this one.
Personally i'd like to see it as a permanent fixture, somewhere else in the city if not beside City Hall.
QuoteBelfast eye to open for Christmas
Work has begun on the construction of a "Belfast Eye" in the grounds of the City Hall.
A 60m wheel is scheduled to open on 25 October, giving passengers panoramic views 200ft above the city.
The 365 tonne structure has 42 fully enclosed capsules, each of which can carry six adults and two children for each 15 minute trip.
The council and Department of Social Development said the £3.5m project would be self-financing.
World Tourist Attractions, which will run the attraction, has already built big wheels in Manchester and Seville.
John Lowry, from the company, said it was delighted that the construction of the wheel was finally under way.
"We are due to stay until March, but we would like to stay longer," he told the Belfast Telegraph.
"We've got engineers from Holland and technicians from England putting the wheel together.
"It took a long time, but it is great to finally be over and to bring the wheel to Belfast.
He added: "I understand that there will be an official ceremony held around November 19."
The firm said that it would be operating the attraction in the city centre for the next five months.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1192613708/img/1.jpg)
(artists impression)
Quote from: ziggysego on October 23, 2007, 01:38:17 PM
Why can't they do something original for once?
Yes indeed. For years the unionist controlled council took nationists for a ride, and now they have to pay for the same privilege.
Its a pity the artists impression wasnt on the correct side! It is on the side the is facing
They have a few of the pods connected to it now - nice enough idea, but whay set it slap bang in the middle of the city?
My problem with it is that for about a third of the rotation you'll either be looking at the Ulster Bank, the Bank of Ireland or in the side door of Marks and Spencer. Unlike London, when you're down at the bottom of the wheel and you can look over to Westminster etc.
But they seem to be putting on a pod every couple of hours. I can see it from my desk and they've put five on since about 9am.
Rois your boss is just off the phone, he says stop looking out the window and do some work!! ;)
Ah well it will be something nice for the spides to vandalise, deface and shoot at with their bb guns.......
Quote from: Maguire01 on October 23, 2007, 01:46:55 PM
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1192613708/img/1.jpg)
Hey Drici,
That's me beside the bird in the white jacket :)
picture taken from the BBC website of the eye in construction!!
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1193141211/img/1.jpg)
It looks wheelie good.
I say it won't be long to more jokes start doing the rounds.
Quote from: ziggysego on October 23, 2007, 04:02:07 PM
I say it won't be long to more jokes start doing the rounds.
Does the Wheel have a Spokes person?
Only £6 I believe.
Was on the one in Manchester a while back with the young lad. £9 each i think, he was bricking it as has a touch of vertigo. He soon got over it when he realised how much of an anti-climax it was.
what would you go up to look at? :-\
How much is the London one? I am going over this weekend.
Quote from: Balboa on October 23, 2007, 09:58:46 PM
How much is the London one? I am going over this weekend.
You'll spend the weekend standing in the cue for it
Quote from: pintsofguinness on October 23, 2007, 10:04:03 PM
Quote from: Balboa on October 23, 2007, 09:58:46 PM
How much is the London one? I am going over this weekend.
You'll spend the weekend standing in the cue for it
I heard that, even at this time of the year?
£6? Bollix to that.
I'll walk ye up to Napoleons Nose on the Cavehill, where the view is 10 times better and I'll over charge you a fiver.
Quote from: full back on October 23, 2007, 01:59:07 PM
Its a pity the artists impression wasnt on the correct side! It is on the side the is facing
eh? It is correct - it's on Donegall Square East is it not? That's the Ulster Bank beside the wheel.
Apologies maguire, I thought the picture was taken from the Ulster Bank side! :-\
Anyone been on this? are there queues. prices and all that.
Quote from: Orior on October 23, 2007, 10:40:24 PM
I'll walk ye up to Napoleons Nose on the Cavehill, where the view is 10 times better and I'll over charge you a fiver.
It and Glencar Waterfall are my 1-2.
Quote from: Square Ball on November 09, 2007, 08:13:12 PM
Anyone been on this? are there queues. prices and all that.
Not been on it but have been past it load of times over the last couple of days/weeks, queues very small, £6 each, you can hire a pod for £44, VIP pod £65, with champagne £80!
Looks like a bit of a let-down!
Cheers
gonna take one of the kids on it as he hasnt shut up about it, hope its not windy when we get on it
I see the mandarins have decided to keep thon big eye up in Belfast centre til December 2008.
I went for a spin on it at Christmas. The girlies were all petrified, but I thought it was as exciting as going up an escalator.
What exactly is there to see when you're up there?
The only building I can think of that you'd want to see in Belfast is City Hall. It's hardly London!
My brother and his wife were on it. They found it boring. Like pints says, there's nothing of interest to look at.
No, you cannot see up women's skirts in the pod above you.
Ach Jaysus, where's your sentimentality here. Have none of yous yet says 'I'll meet you at the eye". A bit like the pillar for any out there who can remember that far back, before it was blew up.
Quote from: Fiodoir Ard Mhacha on January 11, 2008, 08:07:15 AM
Ach Jaysus, where's your sentimentality here. Have none of yous yet says 'I'll meet you at the eye". A bit like the pillar for any out there who can remember that far back, before it was blew up.
What pillar?
Quote from: Donagh on January 11, 2008, 10:45:20 AM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on January 11, 2008, 10:39:43 AM
What pillar?
;D
Not being as old as you Donagh ;), my question still stands.
Now he's not talking about Nelson's column, is he?
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on January 11, 2008, 11:01:03 AM
Quote from: Donagh on January 11, 2008, 10:45:20 AM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on January 11, 2008, 10:39:43 AM
What pillar?
;D
Not being as old as you Donagh ;), my question still stands.
Now he's not talking about Nelson's column, is he?
I was laughing because I thought you were being a smart arse, :D. You obviously went for those pints last night then?
Quote from: Donagh on January 11, 2008, 11:09:19 AM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on January 11, 2008, 11:01:03 AM
Quote from: Donagh on January 11, 2008, 10:45:20 AM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on January 11, 2008, 10:39:43 AM
What pillar?
;D
Not being as old as you Donagh ;), my question still stands.
Now he's not talking about Nelson's column, is he?
I was laughing because I thought you were being a smart arse, :D. You obviously went for those pints last night then?
Aye, head on me like a busted sofa! :-\
Sow, reap, GDA.
10 days into sobriety here.
For them that don't know:
The Nelson Pillar (Colún Nelson in Irish), known generally in Dublin as Nelson's Pillar or simply The Pillar, was a controversial large granite pillar topped by a statue of Horatio, Lord Nelson, located in the centre of O'Connell Street in Dublin. It was erected in 1808 by Dublin Corporation after consultation with the British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Richmond, to honour Admiral Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar, three years after his death. Notably it was finished long before the similar Nelson's Column was erected in Trafalgar Square in London in 1849. The pillar became both a tram terminus and a common meeting place for Dubliners to sell drugs and offered the city's best public viewing platform, reached by spiral stairway inside the column. It was lovingly destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1966.
800 years - the Brits gave us Nelson's Pillar and Heuston Station. Well done.
What about the roads. And the sanitation.
No aqueduct, though, or irrigation. I'll give you that. Or wine.
Sounds like a Monty Python sketch.
Ok, so what have the brits ever done for us?
Shortbread