The River and the Sea

Most of our activities today centered on the Thames, with corollary stops concerning Britain's maritime history and current sporting scene.

We took a very interesting and entertaining tourist boat from Westminster Pier to Greenwich (reasonably priced, especially with my Oystercard discount). Our guide identified several buildings whose functions I had wondered about.

I know I've already been to Greenwich, but I didn't get to see everything I wanted to there before, and it was on Hal and Sally's list of things to do. I went through the National Maritime Museum this time, while the kids went to see the Observatory and Prime Meridian. Although I was under some time constraints, I enjoyed the museum, especially the ship models and beautifully displayed sextants, astrolabes, and other seagoing paraphernalia. One of my favorite items was this ship's doctor's kit, which reminded me of the doctor who was such a great character in Master and Commander.

Another stop at the Greenwich Market finished off our visit. This time I knew to eat at the food stalls there and had a yummy "Turkish pizza." Hal and Sally opted for more familiar fare, which you can see being prepared in the photo at the bottom of the post. Who would have thought I'd be able to capture a scene like this on this part of the globe? London really does contain a little bit of the whole world in its environs.

We walked under the Thames, just for the heck of it, using the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. Then we picked up the Docklands Light Rail for a land-based trip back to the center of town. The picture at the top of this post was taken as we approached the Tower, with, of course, the Tower Bridge as a backdrop. You can ask me privately why we were standing next to that life buoy. We spent most of the day debating whether to shell out the £16 necessary to take the Tower tour. We ended up deciding not to do that, at least not today, when we saw the weekend crowds.

Instead, we relaxed in the Hung, Drawn and Quartered Pub across the street and watched the second half of an exciting football match between Chelsea and Man U. Chelsea, my favorite London-area team, came back with a late equalizer to tie 1-1, a reasonably good result. And we were pleasantly surprised to find that the libations didn't come at touristy prices.

All that remained to our day was a provisions run to the 24-hour Tesco that we found out, upon arrival, isn't really open 24 hours, at least not on Sundays. Not to fear, stops at a couple of small markets on the way home that were open provided what was needed for a nice pasta dinner in. Quite worn out from another day of sight-seeing, Hansel-and-Gretel-ing in the maze that is the London transport system (a truly remarkable achievement of civilization, but devilishly complicated), and just enjoying ourselves, we're probably going to make it an early night. More of the same is on tap tomorrow!

That pesky Prime Directive

Oh, wait, that's what they keep having trouble with on Star Trek. What we saw today was the Prime Meridian, and what a delightful day we had!

It started out with an exciting round of one of my favorite travel games: figuring out mass transit routes! I mean it! I love doing this stuff—it's like a treasure hunt. I should say that I love doing it when you actually end up where you want to go, and we did today, in spite of a boatload of obstacles put in our way by London Transport and their maintenance schedule. We neglected to check this website before leaving, although we were given a heads up by the helpful receptionist at FIE where we met the students who were going with us. (First big lesson learned today: check for disruptions before you leave!)

However, as it turned out, between the announcements on the train (actually understandable and helpful!) and a few well-chosen questions of the considerate transport staff, we were able to negotiate a long, multi-stage trip that involved two different kinds of trains and a set of replacement buses. What an incredibly well-run transit system they have here! Londoner's pride in it is fully justified.


And all the effort was well worth it. This is the view from the top of the hill where the Observatory is located. The handsome quad of buildings at the other side of the grassy field is the Royal Naval College, which I saw close-up later. The steep climb up here was fueled by a delicious lunch at a Greenwich pizzeria (I had soup this time).

The main attraction of course is the aforementioned meridian, although the attached museum is very interesting and they have a neat, real, full-sized camera obscura that's pretty cool. Everyone had to have their picture taken standing athwart the meridian, and one of our wonderful students took this for me. Texas readers, take note of the multiple layers of outerwear: it was delightfully cool today, and though continually overcast and threatening-looking, there was actually NO RAIN!

After the observatory the little group of students I was with headed over to the Sunday market, where I got some good ideas for possible future souvenir purchases. There were some quite interesting-looking items there. And the food looked wonderful; I rather wished we'd skipped the restaurant and eaten as we shopped. That would also have given us the time to see the Maritime Museum, which will have to wait for a future visit.

I did have time for a nice stroll around the College, though, and took this picture of those towers seen from a distance before. As well as this one that I feel already is typically English: a church and trees—there are certainly plenty of both around here!

All in all, it was a very successful day. We proved to ourselves we could navigate the tube system under conditions that won't normally prevail during the week (we hope). At the same time I hope we gave the students without mass transit experience some confidence when they strike out on their own.

And it was such fun being with them! (16 of our 23 went with us to Greenwich.) My opinion may change when classes start Tuesday (just kidding! I don't think it will) but so far they've been perfect traveling companions—friendly, considerate, enthusiastic, supportive of us and each other. I think we're in for a great semester!