Today’s excursion was to a very different part of London – the shiny new Docklands.  Finally the sun appeared, and it was a glorious day.  Again, the development all over this area is astonishing. We got off at North Greenwich, which is right next to the O2 stadium, which resembles a rather large pincushion, or a birthday cake with candles.  Our objective was the Emirates Aviation Experience, where we booked into a flight simulator session for an hour.  You can also learn some of the ins and outs of turning around an A380, where the baggage goes (a fascinating video tracing a suitcase on its journey from checkin to the plane – we had no idea!), and how a Rolls Royce engine works. We had 30 minutes each as captain, with the other acting as co-pilot, all under instruction of a very patient man!

Ian was captain on our Boeing 777 flights.  You choose an airport to take off from and land at, as well as time of day and weather conditions.  The captain is in charge of take off, turning, and landing, while the co-pilot keeps the speed steady.  Ian handled his take offs easily, and two of his three landings made it onto the runway – the third was an unfortunate incident where he wiped out an engine. He even landed at the old Hong Kong airport, notoriously difficult.

Then we switched to the A380 simulator, and I took the captain’s seat.  Let’s just say I wasn’t as adept at the controls, getting confused between left and right and not quite making any of my landings.  I did get to fly over the coast of Greece, which was nice!  The hour flew by (ha ha) and it was fascinating to have a go at flying a plane. We would recommend lashing out and spending the money if you get the chance.

And we did (some of us less successfully than others)

Ian after successfully landing his Boeing 777

From there we took the scenic cable car, which swung us high over the Thames and gave us great views.  We could see some of the interesting new buildings in the City, as well as the Olympic park and the Thames Barrier.

Emirates Air Line cable car

Cable car ride across the Thames

Rampant development

Thames Barrier

The pincushion? Or cake with candles? You decide

Olympic Park from the cable car

The Crystal, Docklands

More family history followed (look out for separate blog entry to come) in the Bow area.  We spotted a blue plaque in Mile End, marking the spot where the first V1 flying bomb fell on London in 1944.

Site of the first V1 to fall on London

On our way home we stopped for a look at Westfield Stratford, a glittering homage to glass and steel retail, and packed with people on a Thursday afternoon. It is one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, although the Gateshead Metrocentre, which we also visited, is bigger.  Weary and footsore, we returned home to rest up before the first of our three London City Races tomorrow.