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English Breakfast.
At least what they called it. Scrambled Eggs, mushrooms, beans, tomattoes and Canadian bacon. Day 13
Today we knew was going to be full of things that we wanted to see and do, so we got started early.
Breakfast on Sunday morning, is a bit later than other mornings. Most of the places we saw, opened at 8AM every day except Sunday, which they opened at 9AM. We adjusted, and found one that opened at 8AM, popped in, and had breakfast. We are trying to experience the local food and customs as much as possible. The full English Breakfast consisted of the sausage, beans, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms.
Off the ride the tube, and go to see the Tower of London. We decided to use the Oyster Card, which has nothing to do with oysters, but that is what it is called. It is one of the cards that let you load up money on it, and use it so you don’t have to keep buying tickets each day. They don’t use tickets anymore any way, just these scan cards.
We had our map, studied the route we wanted to take. There was a station a half block away from our breakfast location. Leichester Square Station. We headed down to buy
cards, and go to the Tower of London. Opps. This is Sat./Sunday, May 11/12 ,the tracks we wanted to use are closed for maintenance. Plan B. We picked some other tracks and lines and worked around the problem, with the result is we got there, but right at 10AM. We wanted to be there at 9:30AM in case there was a line. We got there at 10, which is when our tickets were booked and there
was a line.
We was the Crown Jewels, read how they were used, and how long they have been around. They had a set that was destroyed by a King in 1647 or so, all that you see today are new, as in the 1800’s and 1900’s.
After the Tower tour, the next item was the Greenwich Park. We took a boat ride there, so we could see the Thames. We docked, and go off, to go see the Park. Well, not just the Park, but the Observatory on the top of the hill. This hill is NOT for the faint of heart, weary of leg or breath. Once on the top, we had the little audio guide that tells you about
Breakfast had some sweet things
The bakery had a very tempting display case with fresh made goodies. everything at the different spots along the way,
I found this one of the most interesting of the sites today, because of all the science that was involved in getting our ships navigation to be accurate. GMT, Greenwich Mean Time is the time set right here.
Today we all take for granted the easy access of precise time with cell phones, that get it off the network, which is provided by time servers all around the world. That wasn’t the case 50 years ago. I remember calling in to the time service to get the exact time setting a clock or computer and hearing the 6 pip tone and the lady announcing the time. That is described in the history at the Greenwich Observatory, and the lady that started that service. She initially started it by writing it down and taking it to her customers. Then she had a chronometer and took that to her customers to tell them the exact correct time.
Why is time so important? Because without an accurate time, you won’t know where you are on the face of the earth. The seafarers could tell which latitude they were on using the stars,
but longitude was a different matter. They offered £20,000 back 350 years ago to the person that could develop a way to tell exact time on a sailing ship. The proof would be a ship could sail from London to a port in West Indies and land within 30 kilometers of where it said they were. I found it extremely interesting and fascinating.
We did a lot of walking, and decided to ride the boat back to Westminster, to float by some of the sights we wanted to see, then take the tube back to Leicester Station and home.
A lot of walking happened today, and everyone was glad to get off their feet and sit for an early dinner, near the hotel, and turn in early.
….and the story continues.
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