London and Greenwich

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With only a one day lay-over in London (how crazy is that?) we decided to orient ourselves by taking a bus tour. This turned out to be an excellent idea as we got to see many, many of the places we'd heard of--though admittedly only from the roof of the bus! So I just forgot about taking pictures as things whizzed by, and concentrated on looking and listening to our entertaining guides.

Our bus got stopped and hung up for a while at Trafalgar Square because the place was being set up for the celebration that night, when it would be acclaimed that exactly 365 days remained till the Olympics opened in London, and London would be READY. We got to see this on the news later back at the hotel.

Our particular bus tour included a trip up the Thames to Greenwich and a chance to walk around. Greenwich is definitely geared for tourists, lots of achingly quaint little shops. But the great thing is that people can go for free into some amazing places at the Royal Naval College--now you get to see pics of that as it was jaw-droppingly impressive and I began snapping pictures again since we were off the bus, as it were.

We also walked through Queen's House where there were portraits of many royals and quite a collection of pictures of boats.

But the thing that tickled me most was the Royal Observatory at Greenwich we which could see up the hill (we didn't have time to walk there, alas) and to view the red ball which gets hoiked up halfway each day at 12:55, then all the way at 12:58, and dropped right at 1pm, setting the time for the world.

I promised in the last blog that I would show you where time begins, and this is it.

So if you, like me, had only heard of the ball dropping at Times Square in New York City on New Year's Eve, add this red ball to your collection of facts from around the world. It's been happening every day since 1833.

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Photos

Cafe across from Westminster
We could hardly believe our luck to lunch in a tiny cafe overhanging the Thames just across from Westminster.

Royal Naval College Hall
Some very grand dinners have been held here--a bit more formal than our First Saturdays!

Royal Naval College Dining Hall mural
I liked the seashell motifs.

Mural of King George the First
This is an amalgamation of family and mythical figures. George II is to the right, and the favoured grandson George III is at Grandad's knee, while other grandchildren get the lower left corner.

The Green at the Royal Naval College
Looking up toward Queen's House, where Queen Elizabeth I was born. Phil liked the RNC architecture as much as the temples in Turkey.

Name this Queen
A packet of Smarties goes to whoever names this queen correctly.

The famous red time ball at Greenwich
Every day this ball rises to the middle at 12:55 and then to thwe top at 12:58, then it drops at 1pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). This way boats on the Thames could see the ball and know the correct time.

The real London Bridge
The previous one is now in Arizona. It's rumoured that the American McCulloch who bought the previous one got a big surprise when it arrived because he thought he'd bought the more elaborate Tower Bridge just upriver from this. True? Wikipedia says no, but it gives the guides a good story to tell.

Comments

[Michelle Cavanagh]

I have a reputation to keep up now!!
Today I received a Facebook request from Ismail from Istanbul who was one of our homestay students. What a pity he didn't contact me while you were in Turkey as you could have met him. Ah well! I'll just have to go there myself. M xx

[beryl stephens]

Greenwich
Hi Martha, Can you send me your email address please. Beryl

[maki]

Your blog
great stuff Martha - lovely to meet you - send us more of the Olympic Peninsula- what about Rialto Beach - wild eh? Annie & John.