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Published: November 9th 2010
The M25
A wide motorway that will skirt us around London. Thank you, John Pegg!Max: Well, frankly, Day 13 is kind of a blur. We leave the B&B after hugs, kisses, and best wishes for the rest of our travels from Veronica and John. We have a route that will take us around London rather than through it courtesy of John Pegg and, although it takes a bit longer than anticipated, we arrive at our hotel, check in, and start off for the Market Hall in Greenwich. This is a big bazaar of crafts and food. It is so overwhelming we are stunned beyond our ability to make decisions and purchases except for some excellent Thai food for lunch-on-the-run. John is sending text messages to meet him and his family at the Royal Observatory. By the time we get there, we have missed him and he asks us to meet him in an hour down in the park. Probably the quickest visit by anyone ever to the Observatory and I am having to drag Caitlin from room to room. Half an hour on the Meridian Route and half an hour on the Astronomy Route and we are out into the park to try to catch up with John and his family.
The park is the
Happy Driver Caitlin
Caitlin has mastered the art of driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car grounds of the palace of Placentia where Kings Henry VII and VIII resided and Queens Mary and Elizabeth were born. The Royal Observatory stands where the royal tower once stood. The whole area is filled with beautiful buildings designed by Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones, but we are late and last visiting hours are falling. We try to visit the Queen’s House and are too late, but we are given last admittance to The Painted Hall. Designed by Christopher Wren with paintings by Thornhill, the building has served as the site for Admiral Lord Nelson to lie in state, and as the Naval Gallery of art. In the 1930’s went back to being a daily use dining hall for the Royal Navy. Can you imagine? Now it is open for visitors, such as John’s twin boys who have a marvelous time jumping down the marble steps, and for tourists such as me who brave another whip lash injury staring up at the ceiling. And if you are very, very prestigious, you may just be invited to attend a special function and actually sit down to dine here. Good thing I am not prestigious, I am afraid my mouth would be
Remains of the Herschel
Herschel, who discovered Uranus, built this telescope which was originally forty feet long with a ten foot mirror. The largest telescope of its time, it is believed to have discovered the two moons of Saturn. After a tree fell on it, the main section was destroyed; what remains is now on display at the Observatory. agog the whole time.
Speaking of dining, we make our way to John’s house where we have been invited for dinner. Paula, John’s very gracious wife, has opened their home to complete strangers and is cooking for us while we enjoy, with a few interruptions by Halloween trick or treaters, the antics of the twins . It is a lovely English dinner of sausage and mash, but for Caitlin John has gone out of his way by bringing home black pudding and haggis. I preferred the sausages, but the other wasn’t too bad. After a lovely desert pudding (not blood) Paula sends us off for an after dinner drink at a pub and John walks us back to the hotel. We won’t see John again this trip and it is hard to say good-bye.
Thank you again Paula, John, Sam, and Dan for a great dinner and your lovely hospitality while we were in England. You have made our trip much easier and all the more memorable. Caitlin: Along with clocks, ceilings, and stone circles, I will now be adding longitude and latitude to my list of new obsessions. The Royal Observatory is great! Absolutely beautiful: it has
The Telescope Dome
This dome houses the 28" telescope - the largest in the UK a camera obscura, a whole lot of clocks and a whole room dedicated to the history of time-keeping and its relationship to finding one's location at sea - neat stuff! Oh, and there are some REALLY giant telescopes!
The afternoon just keeps getting better, as we (finally!) get to meet John's lovely wife, Paula, and his terribly charming twins. After our quick trip into The Painted Hall we head back to their house and during the walk I get the honor of holding Dan's hand for about 2 seconds at a time, over and over again as we make up a silly game of it. Sam won't hold my hand at all, but I think he's just being coy. Dinner was indeed amazing, and the pre-dinner Sam & Dan show was equally delightful. I can't believe that John has been so thoughtful and gotten both black pudding AND haggis for me to try - haggis wasn't even on my food to-do list!!! They are delicious (the haggis especially so) as well as the rest of dinner. Paula, if you're reading this, the carrots and parsnips haunt my dreams!!! In a good way, of course. It's so sad to say goodnight
to the boys and goodbye to Paula, after just meeting! And of course it is also very, very sad to say goodbye to John, our Patron Saint of Vacations in England. Thank you all so much for everything!!!!!!
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JP
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Laser
can you see the start of the laser line (the one in the night time shot)coming out of the little square hole above the notice? I've never seen that before...