Portsmouth Spinnaker

After London, Mark and I headed south, spent half a day in Brighton and then made our way to Portsmouth where we spent the night. The next morning we got up early and headed to the Spinnaker Tower.

Note the rectangular window in the floor at the top.

The tower had the feel of a structure that was intentionally built by a city that is trying to establish an iconic architectural image. A lot of cities have one. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has the Empire State Building and Sydney has the Opera House. While these structures have become unintentional iconic images, I couldn't help but feel like the Spinnaker Tower has that feel of a city trying too hard. Maybe it just needs to be around longer.

View looking down through the window.

That being said, I am very glad that we went and visited it. The view from the top was excellent, despite the bad weather that day, and the glass floor that you walk across at the top was great. I will admit that I had to work up the courage to walk across it. My logical side knew it was safe, but my instinctual side was setting off alarm bells...