Don't like our clock? How about if we field 18 of them?
Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge...can you hear us London. Your landmarks took one hell of a beating.
A new poll, canvassing 10,000 tourists, finds that London just isn't interesting enough - at least where eye-catching landmarks are concerned. The survey, by Hotels.com, puts the Eiffel Tower as emperor of the erections. Second and third are taken by St Peter's and the Taj Mahal, respectively. London has to wait until 11th (Big Ben) and 12th (London Eye) places to rank.
The findings are taken from the latest in a long line of surveys-to-generate-headlines-to-generate-custom from Hotels.com. Just this year, their enterprising press department has found that a third of people think London cabs are the best in the world, 17% of Brits can't recognise the London skyline without Big Ben, and more than half of travellers check their emails while away.
We're not sure how much credence can be given to such partisan scholarship, but we're happy to take a pinch of pride from the new survey. The London Eye is the only entry in the top 12 to have been erected in the past 30 years. We have our laurels, but we don't rest on them.
