Saturday, January 29, 2011

Today Kali and I decided to go on an adventure! It had been a while. Last night we were looking at a book I got before I left called Day Trips from London and we decided to go to Greenwich. Side note: it is pronounced "gren-ich" not "green-witch". We felt super touristy once we found that one out. But we had also gotten an email from the study abroad people that Greenwich had a really good outdoor market, so that cemented our decision. 
We went to the market first and grabbed lunch and I got the scarf I am wearing in the pictures. Then we walked to a tourist information center. They had all these outfits and hats you could dress up in. I guess Greenwich Pier has this famous ship called the Cuttey Sark and the sailors wore these special blue coats. 
Then we went to the Old Royal Naval college next to the information center. My book had said to go and see the chapel and the Painted Hall. The painted hall is called that because all the decorations and moldings are painted on, even the columns and the fireplace. It was amazing and it took a good look before you realized that some stuff was painted. the tables in the middle of the picture are actually mirrors you you could look at the ceiling and not kill your neck. The chapel was super pretty too, it had the most amazing ceiling. 



After that we went to the National Maritime Museum to see the jacket that Nelson wore when he died in the Battle of Nile in 1798. We saw a picture of this when we toured Parliament. The coat was actually pretty gross because he said that they shouldn't ever wash it and there was grease on it still from his ponytail and stuff. Pretty gross. But still historic and cool. Then we went to the Queen's House, which used to be one of the Queen's places of residence during the Tudor era and such but now it is a museum. We didn't stay there for very long.
the park the observatory is in
the view from the top of the hill


Then we went to find the Royal Observatory. It was really cool. Greenwich is where they keep the time for the world, it is at longitude 0. They had a brass strip on the ground so you could stand with one foot in each hemisphere. It was cool. They also had a lot of clocks and telescopes and stuff. And a big clock with the official time and the official measurements for a foot and stuff like that. 
After looking around Kali and I went to get tea at the Pavilion Tea House. It wasn't as cute as we thought it would be, but I had scones for the first time! So all in all the day was a success. And we only got lost once but luckily found our way by accident. We had never used the DLR before, so switching to that from the tube was the only glitch the whole day!

1 comment:

  1. I love your narration of your adventures and your photography is fantastic. I can imagine that I am there (and wish I was)! It is obvious that you are having an enriching experience.

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