Just a Boat-ride Away

This week's trip was to Greenwich, a town that is located apporximately a 30 minute boat ride down the Thames. We took this picture on the boat which was on the river- it was an exciting prospect!!! The ride was pretty fun!! It was really cool to float right under the tower bridge and to see the city from a new perspective!

The highlights of Greenwich include, the National Maritime Museum, The Royal Observatory, The Royal Naval College and the Prime Meridian. Our first stop was the National Maritime Museum which was full of the history of sea travel. It was cool to see so much about boats and the ocean and the impact that the water has on England. I often forget that Great Britain is one big island but it surely is. You know you are in a Maritime Museum when the man and woman on the bathroom sign have sailor's caps on.

So after the museum, our whole group got together to see the show at the planetarium. I have discovered that I really like planetariums. It was cool to see the sky from a different point of view than I usually do. After the show we set out to find the Prime Meridian which is the line that seperates the eastern and western hemispheres. It didn't take too long to find since there were signs pointing us to where it was we needed to go. Even though it was just a line in the ground, it was pretty cool to straddle it and know that my right foot was in one hemisphere and my left in another- talk about being two places at once!The Prime Meridian sign and the clock that keeps time for the world which can't be seen because it is digital and I guess digital clocks and digital cameras don't really mesh well.This is me being in two places at one time- this was almost as cool as the picture that we took of us playing tug-o-war in two hemispheres.

After our pictures at the Prime Meridian we walked down the big hill and went to the Queen's House which was a pretty cool art gallery set up in a gorgeous old building that was supposidly used in some version of Sense and Sensibility- that was cool to know :) Next we walked over to the Royal Naval College which is now part of the Universtiy of Greewich but it was such a beautiful old campus. We made sure to see the painted hall which was a large room that was painted with a mural from floor to cieling, it was amazing. Another memorable stop we made was in the chapel where they were having a singing class and so not only did we get to see the amazingly beautiful chapel but we got to hear a pretty impressive free concert.This arch seperated the Royal Naval College from the banks of the Thames- it was right on the water, what a beautiful setting!

This marked the end of our Greenwich exploration. This Wednesday was a little different in the respect that it was up to us to get ourselves back to the centre. Today was the first time I have really utalized London DLR or dockland's light railway. This line took us all the way from Greenwich back to central London. It was a cool ride because I got to see some scenery that I have never seen before! Mom and Dad and Em if you guys liked the stuff you saw in this post or if you have the desire to stand in two hemispheres at once all you have to do is let me know because I can make that happen for you :)