| The Birmingham Wheel photographs and video 8-Dec-2003 | |
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The Wheel of Birmingham is the latest major tourist attraction to be
launched in the heart of Birmingham. It dominates Centenary Square,
rising to an amazing height of 60 meters (197 ft) providing stunning
views across the rooftops of the city to open countryside beyond.
www.thebirminghamwheel.co.uk The wheel was due to be dismantled in January but good attendance kept it in Brum until the end of February 2004. Latest news:- The wheel is due to return to Centenary Square in November 2004 in November after |
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Pay a fiver hop aboard a gondola and press the Birmingham Facts
button on the roof or
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The Birmingham Ferris wheel Thursday December 4, 2003 The Guardian Mon dieu, il n'y a rien comme Brum en D�cembre! Elles sont pas nombreuses au monde, les villes qui offrent � ses touristes et ses habitants des bijoux comme le Carrefour de Ptes et l'Anneau du Taureau. Ah, c'est vachement merveilleux! You're not wrong, mate. I'm a big fan of Spaghetti Junction, the Bullring and all things Brum myself. But what's with the French? On peut parler en franglais, si tu pr�f�res. S'il vous please. The raison we are speaking like zis is parce que le Birmingham has imported a tr�s beau Ferris wheel from Paris for ze Christmas period, but it has un petit technical probl�me. Oh l� l�! Mais qu'est-ce que c'est? Ze wheel... I can't do this any more, I'm sorry. The wheel - 300 tonnes of precision engineering - looks great but somebody has forgotten to change the commentary. Instead of giving visitors the lowdown on Brum and its environs, the tape gabbles on about the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Sacr� bleu! I can see how that would be un peu embarrassant. Ca suffit pour le franglais! Pardon... er... sorry. What does the council have to say? "[It's] disappointing, as there are so many great things to say about our city." Good point. So are they going to change the commentary, then? Pas du tout. Despite (or perhaps because of) its geographical inaccuracies, Birmingham's francophone Ferris wheel has proved a spectacular hit with more than 24,000 visitors since it opened last month. Do say: Thank God for closer European ties. Maybe there's hope for our abysmal language skills yet. Don't say: If you really crane your neck, you can just make out Blackpool. Or would that be the Eiffel tower?
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 A nice shot of the wheel reflected on the glass fronted Symphony Hall |
 From the Hall of Memory |
 Brindleyplace beyond the roof of the ICC |
 Baskerville House |
 Zoomed in on the BT Tower with it's new paint job |
 Alpha Tower |
 Looking north |
 Looking south |
 The NIA |
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| All photographs and video on this page taken by VirtualBrum copyright www.virtualbrum.co.uk 2003 | |
