Tower Bridge and...
the London Eye, as seen from on the boat.
Once we arrived in Greenwich, we all trekked up this GIANT hill to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. It is in Greenwich where the actual demarcation of Greenwich Mean Time is located, so there were many people straddling both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres at the same time! Crazy, huh?
The Royal Greenwich Observatory
You can see the line dividing the two hemispheres!
While still up that giant hill we were able to look at the home of famous royal astronomers and we could look at some of the actual telescopes used by these astronomers. These telescopes were also huge, which makes you wonder how they got it up the giant hill...? But the view of the city of London and the Docklands by the wharf was excellent from up on the observatory.
It was also a really nice day today. It was actually sunny, if not warm, which made the trip so much better. We spent some time in Greenwich Park, staring at all the puppies that were out playing with their owners...which makes me miss my puppy Louis!!! But it was nice to see everyone enjoying the weather. The grass is also really green, and this is a nice change from the rather bleak Iowa winters.
Greenery! And plants!
We visited the Queen's House next, after tearing ourselves away from the puppies that is. It is a very plain, but large building from the outside, but it is filled with lots of artwork and other artifacts. It also seems that whoever built the house loved fireplaces, because every room, no matter how tiny, had a fireplace in it. There were also stairs in the house called the "Tulip Stairs" because the railings were formed into the shape of tulips! Just like Pella!
The Queen's House
After the Queen's House, we went right next door to the National Maritime Museum. By its name I bet you can guess that the museum contained some boats...interesting. But there was a little exhibit about toy boats, which doesn't sound that interesting but the 'toy' boats were also HUGE. They were crazy detailed and they could propel themselves. Just mind-blowing.
For lunch we had some traditional English food. Thats right, Mexican. And it was delicious. We went to Cafe Sol, and for lunch you get a starter along with your main meal. It was sooo much food, I had a beef enchilada if you wanted to know, and it was sooo good. A lot of people also got margaritas, because it was Friday after all. It was weird to come across a Mexican restaurant in the middle of London, but there were actually quite a few in the neighborhood. Yum.
After lunch we walked around for a bit, and we ended up at Greenwich market. It was full of vintage stuff and lots of knick knacks...not as busy or as large as some of the other ones that we have seen, but still interesting as well. There were also lots of stores surrounding the market, and these had lots of cute stuff. Especially bags, which are my weakness!!!
Greenwich Market
Once we got our fill of the market we headed back into central London. We took the DLR, which is a little different from the tube. It is a driver-less train and it also goes overground, so the views from the train are much better than in a tunnel on the tube, kinda like you would expect.
We got off at Canary Wharf, which is also where my internship is located. This is one of the prettiest tube stations in London. It is like a giant dome, and the tube is really far underground. It is also connected to a large mall. Which you can get to without even having to go outside!!! There are so many stores which I love there, which might be bad if I have to pass them at least two days a week...
We could also see the building I work at from the boat! (It's the one on the left.
You can just barely see the HSBC sign on the building.)
It was a lovely way to spend the day, and I can't wait to take more day trips like this, especially as the weather gets warmer. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is homework, which I unfortunately have to do this weekend...oh well.
Emily
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