The Ledge, Chicago - Um, you go first!

Family in The Ledge glass balcony on Willis Tower, Chicago
I'm good at heights... well, I was.

In 'former lives' I was always the one who went to the top of big yacht masts at sea, armed with a spanner. Or happily walked around on theatre fly-tower grids, hundreds of feet above the stage. Or jumped out of aeroplanes (with parachute), or stayed in flimsy ones (microlight - without parachute), or was happy to be parascended (again, with parachute) behind speedboats. No prob.

But...

There's no way you'll get me out on this one!

The Ledge glass balcony on Willis Tower, Chicago, from underneath
I've been thinking, seriously, why even the photos make me nervous, and I've decided it's the design. With all those other things I've had confidence in the equipment that was holding me up.

This is designed specifically to make you think it is NOT holding you up!

There are loads of similar 'skywalky' things from Seattle to the Grand Canyon...but this one is ALL-glass.

Mummy!

Comments

Alex Bainbridge said…
Interesting you mention this today.

Last night I wrote about how many of the popular tourist attractions are actually based around views.

Seems this one is too!

I also did a little research and found that 5% of the images shared on twitpic are where someone wants to share a view

To me, views ought to be promoted more on travel websites as they seem key to the overall experience of the trip.

More from my blog post

And yeah, I am not sure I like glass floors either. Other good glass floors are in Auckland and one near me in Portsmouth!
Alastair said…
:) Hi Alex

ofc Bing has been doing its bit to promote views. (I LOVE some of their pics!)

I wonder if tourists in particular are drawn to views because humans are hard-wired to try and orientate themselves in unknown locations.....mmm...sniff... do I detect my own BS?

On glass floors: I feel a list coming on.

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