Today we decided to do another one of our London adventure walks. This specific walk would take us to the south east side of central London where Greenwich, North Greenwich, and Canary Wharf are all located. We were able to see many new areas of London that included the Naval College, the Prime Meridian Royal Observatory, and even the newer financial district where my office is located.
Love,
Daddy,
We began the day by taking the underground tube to North Greenwich where the O2 Millennium Dome is located. This location hosts many concerts and is also a site of where you can catch the Thames River Clipper ships to transit along the river. The pictures directly below show some of the buildings around the entrance to the clipper docks.
I thought this was a cool view of the entrance to the Thames Clipper dock
Once we arrived in Greenwich the walk took us directly to a pub....I knew I was going to enjoy this day! The Trafalgar Pub, famous in the nineteenth century for its 'whitebait suppers', would draw many members of Parliament to enjoy dinner and a drink. A statue of Lord Nelson sits near the entrance of the pub.
Here lies the site of the Greenwich Naval College, which began under the Tudor monarchs. Henry VIII established naval dockyards at nearby locations and Elizabeth I made Greenwich Palace the scene of great festivals, including launch parties for many voyages of exploration. It was here that Queen Elizabeth I signed the orders that sent her fleet out against the Spanish Armada. This site used to be the Royal Hospital for seafarers, which was built in the place of the former Royal Palace.
The following pictures are taken in the Painted Hall, which was also from a scene in the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean film with Johnny Depp. The actual pirate outfit that he wore in the film was behind the glass case with a description.
We were able to see the room where Lord Admiral Nelson was burried after his victorious death in the Battle of Trafalgar. He is also idolized in the middle of Trafalgar square where a larger monument is constructed of him. This is also the central point of London.
Once we left the Naval College we proceeded on towards Greenwich Park up to the Queen's House, which houses many pieces of great art. Next to the house is the National Maritime Museum, which I had a fond interest in due to my current job as a Tanker Charterer.
It was about time for lunch when we stumbled across another pub, The Greenwich Tavern! What great timing!
That lunch proved to be a wise decision for everyone as we needed all of our energy to climb the hill leading up to the Royal Observatory. Here is where the term Greenwich Mean Time originated from and also has the 0 degrees longitude (Prime Meridian) line. Every place on earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from here and it divides the eastern and western hemispheres.
We took turns waiting in a LONG line with you to take this picture while the other one of us would tour around the buildings and observatory. What a cool moment to say that we were standing on both hemispheres!!!
Once we were in the observatory, we were able to see the laser that shoots out into space for 15 miles along true north. Pretty neat.
Once we took all of our pictures and walked back down the hill, we ran into the Greenwich market where lots of shops and fresh produce are sold. This was the last area we toured in Greenwich before heading into Canary Wharf where my office is located.
No comments:
Post a Comment