We took a boat to Greenwich. What a glorious way travel! You get to see all the sights, observe the comings and goings of ordinary folk from a privileged seat. I took the walk from londonforfree.net. It shows the most important sights of this favorite Tudor place. As soon as you disembark you are greeted with the Free Tunnel which was built so workers could come and go from Greenwich. You cannot miss the Cutty Sark, once England’s fastest ship.
Downtown feels like a small village with quaint shops and pubs. We were lucky to be there on a Saturday and thus be able to tend the Greenwich market. A license for it was given in 1700 for a thousand years. So you’ll be able catch it any weekend. There are many stall selling food and arts and crafts. I bought some hand printed postcards and saw some really cute crafts but the vendors usually did not like having pictures taken. The walk to the Royal park is not far. Up the hill lies the reason to come to this quaint little town, the Royal Observatory. After getting your ticket, you walk through the court yard where the prime meridian lies. It is interesting to watch the people taking pictures on the line, on one side or the other or straddling it. The house that Flamstead lived is interesting but his study even more. It explains of the hard work he did every night recording the position of the stars. There was also an excellent exhibit on the problem it was to calculate the longitude. In the day of GPS we take for granted the difficulty it was to calculate time and distance. We become too complacent in our comforts to think of the difficulties overcome to get us where we are. There is also an excellent exhibit about our knowledge of the stars, from the beginning of time to space exploration. A most delightful day. I would highly recommend this site for anyone traveling with kids as there are lots of fun activities for them.
We also had a chance to visit the Queens House. It was a house built for a queen, finished for another, turned into a school and today serves as a museum. It houses a collection of nautical themed paintings and some paintings of Greenwich most famous children- the Tudors.
We decided to return via light rail. It was a beautiful journey back because we were given a privileged view of Canary Wharf. Something we would have missed seeing if we had taken the tube.
No trip to London is complete without buying discounted theater tickets at Leicester Square. We went to see We Will Rock You. It was entertaining. Being in Soho the night Chelsea played the finals for the UEFA championship was entertaining. Thankfully they won because the throngs of drunk fans were very happy. Some even risking their lives taking rickshaws downhill at break neck speed. What a merry crowd. Too bad no restaurant was open late because we had to find something to eat. This is something very weird about London, their restaurants and pubs close rather early and you better eat before going to the theater.
Dream of Traveling 