On Top of the City

I got back to London from Stonehenge at about 9:30. I was already pretty happy, but there was still a reason I had stayed one more day. I caught the last Underground from Earl’s Court, and was in the Square Mile around 1:00. This time there was no hesitation. A quick look around, and I boosted myself up and over the wooden barriers. I was in.

I’m generally used to a certain type of climb. Anything under construction or renovation that has scaffolding usually is the same type of deal. Once you get on the scaffolding, you make your way around until you find the ladders or stairs. From there it’s a straight shot to the top. This building, however, was different. It was being renovated, and there was scaffolding. However, it seemed to be pretty much placed at random - some sections had it, some didn’t, and there was never a connection for more than a flight. I had to monkey around for about 20 minutes before I finally managed to find a way into the fire stairs of the building itself. 26 flights later, I was on top of London.

I had chosen a great focal point. The old stock exchange is right on the fulcrum of the old part of the City of London, and the new part of the City of London. To the east was the brightly lit, new post-modern skyscraper city. To the west was the centuries-old classical London, anchored by with St. Paul’s cathedral. Off in the distance I could make out the London Eye, uncharacteristically lit up in red.

The view was great, but I wanted more. There was a construction crane on top of the building, and I meant to head up as far as I could. For some reason it was surrounded by wooden barriers, and locked off in two places. I can see maybe locking the cockpit to prevent unauthorized use, but honestly, who is going to steal a construction crane from on top of a 26 story building? And of course, it didn’t prevent a thing. After another 5 minutes on the jungle gym, I managed to make my way to the small platform 20 feet or so above the cockpit. I was rewarded with a crystal clear, unobstructed view of the Tower Bridge lit up at night, which you couldn’t see from just the roof.

I had been up the Tower Bridge (or the “Tower Bridge Experience” as they call it) a little earlier. Biggest waste of $11 I can think of. The ideal observation deck (official or not), should be in the open air, with completely unobstructed, 360 degree panoramic views. In other words, it should basically just be on a flat roof. It doesn’t need to be the tallest building in town, but it should be high enough to provide an overview of the whole city. The Tour Montparsse in Paris, 30 Rockefeller Center in New York, and the top of the construction crane on the old Stock Exchange where I was all fit the bill. The Tower Bridge was the complete opposite. You could walk between the two towers of the bridge, but it’s indoors and you can only peek out a little window every once in a while, and when you’re in the tower, they don’t even let you climb up to the very top. If it were more unobstructed it might have a decent view of the Thames, but it’s not close to tall enough to get a good view of even just the surrounding part of the city. The Fire Monument is a little better, as it’s outdoors, but it’s still fairly short and the view is surrounded by fencing. Tower 42 (which you have a great view of from the Stock Exchange), has a bar and restaurant on the 42nd floor, but it’s indoors, expensive, you need reservations, and they’ll politely ask you to leave if you start wandering around disturbing people’s dinner in order to snap photos.

I came down after an hour or so of admiring the view.

I was absolutely ecstatic. The best explanation of the feeling of the extralegal urban climb was written up by an Aussie friend of mine after we had climbed the Manhattan Bridge. As I completed the three hour walk back to where I was staying, I couldn’t help but repeat to myself the question from the last line of his essay - “am I the only one to embrace my human frailty and venture high above the city this night?”