The morning began with blinding sunshine (and I forgot my sunglasses!) as we took the tube down to the Thames near Parliament and the London Eye to catch a boat to Greenwich. While the boat trip took considerably longer than a tube ride, it was really cool to see all of London from the river.
The Eye and the London Aquarium
I didn't take any pictures because I was actually facing away from all of the sights on the river, but we passed under the Tower Bridge and London Bridge (which was really plain and very anti-climatic). The boat ride took about an hour, and we got to Greenwich around 11, just in time for our tour. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but often had us stop in the shade instead of the sun, which made listening to her anecdotes very difficult sometimes. I didn't know much about Greenwich except for the Prime Meridian, though, so it was all very interesting.
The tour started at the Cutty Sark. This boat was a clipper and used to transport tea from China to London. The name comes from a poem by Robert Burns, in which a man is enchanted by a group of women dancing. He is so mesmerized by one particular woman, whose dress is pretty much non-existent, that he cries out "Well done Cutty Sark." As he says this, the women realized they are being watched, and they turn out to be witches. When he realizes they are witches, he rides his horse through running water because he knows witches can't cross it. Just as it almost makes it across, the Cutty Sark (the fastest witch) grabs the tail of his horse.
The Cutty Sark
The scantily clad Cutty Sark with the tail of the horse
Next we saw the old Royal Naval Academy in Greenwich. It was used to train the Royal Navy until 1998, when, due to the cost of up keep, it was given to the University of Greenwich. The architecture is beautiful.
The domed building on the right has the Painted Hall, and on the left is the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
There is so much history here! Henry VII and Mary and Elizabeth were born here!
To get to the Prime Meridian, we passed other landmarks such as the Queen's House and the National Maritime Museum. The fields in front of the National Maritime Museum were used during the Olympics for the equestrian events (but the stadiums were temporary).
The National Maritime Museum
The Queen's House
After passing the Queen's House, we began the trek up the hill to the Royal Observatory. I was definitely not prepared for the work out we would have to complete before seeing the Prime Meridian! The view from the top of the hill was worth it, though. It was beautiful. Our experience with the Prime Meridian was definitely less extravagant than I imagined. If you pay, you can get into the Royal Observatory area which has a formal monument to the line. We had to go through this really awkward gate to a spot that had only about 3 feet of the line to see. It was still pretty awesome though! I should have set my watch to the meridian time, since that's how London keeps its time. It was so cool having one foot in the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time!
The view from the extremely steep walk up the hill at Greenwich
Everyone was starving after the walk up the hill, so after walking through the adorable town of Greenwich, we bee-lined for the nearest Mexican restaurant. It was so strange being in the British version of a Mexican restaurant. First of all, there were no free chips and salsa (rude). However, their margaritas were very strong. I got vegetable fajitas, which included baby corn, green beans, and peppers. So strange. It was still delicious though! We walked around the Greenwich Market, which had lots of cool shops and places to eat. We should have eaten there, though, because they had lots of gluten free/vegan things, including cupcakes and crepes!
A group of us took an over ground train back to London and hung out the rest of the afternoon. We went out, trying to go to an Australian Bar (it was Australia Day), but ended up at a Canadian bar. While it was fun being with the girls I went with, we ended up talking to these very rude and aggressive Irish guys. We only stayed about an hour and caught the Tube home. Definitely a bummer of a night.
On Sunday, it was a free day, and I slept until the glorious hour of 11. I didn't do much today, just read for classes and bought some notebooks for my classes. I hate the first week of assignments because I'm never sure how much or how in depth I have to read for my classes yet! So far it's a LOT of reading, which is a bit overwhelming. Thankfully I don't have class on Monday, so I'll have plenty of time to finish everything. I think everyone's just hanging out today and tonight. We definitely all needed some down time after our busy week!
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