LONDON

We left the boat on Monday, June 9th and all of us took a cab together to the Wolverhampton train station.  Kate and Sally were headed to Bath and then on to Wales and home.  Rick and Gayle, Bob and I had rented an apartment for three nights in London, then they were flying home and we were flying to Spain.

When we arrived in London, we took a cab to our apartment.  We were thrilled to see the street we were going to be living on.  It was in Queens Court on a street that was filled with restaurants and stores of all nationalities.  Just in a two block strip on our street we had Thai, Persian, Mediterranean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and lots of other types of restaurants I can't remember.  The people on the street appeared to be from all nationalities as well.  There were two tube stations nearby, each for a different line.

Our apartment was in a large building above a row of stores -- we were on the 6th floor.  We had two bedrooms, a nice size living/dining room a kitchen and one bath.  It was fine for the four of us, especially because we spent very little time there.  We ate breakfast at the apartment and then went out for the day.  The apartment also had great wifi which was definitely a plus.

This is the view out our windows:

On our second day, we planned to visit the Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory in Greenwich.  Bob had read a book about John Harrison who invented the chronometer, thus solving the puzzle of how to determine longitude, and he wanted to see the exhibit about it.  We had been told that the best way to get there was by boat along the Thames so left Tuesday morning and took the tube down to Westminster Pier where we got the tour boat down to Greenwich.  This was a great way to see many of the sights of London for people who only had a couple of days there.  There was a commentary as we traveled with lots of amusing stories about the buildings we passed and we got to see Parliament, the Tower of London, the Globe Theater, The Tower Bridge and lots of other famous sights.  We learned that the word "wharf" came from "WareHouse At River Front".  The tour guide talked about the fact that the Thames has gone from a very commercial river where lots of goods were transported and offloaded at the wharfs (there are still cranes on many of the warehouses) to a residential/tourist site with lots of high end apartments and hotels.  Scattered among the old buildings are many new ones with very innovative architecture.

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey:

Parliament buildings:

Globe Theater:

Tower of London:

Oldest Pub in London:

Warehouses with cranes on the front for offloading cargo:

Replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship:

"The Eye" is a Ferris wheel that you can ride for 20 pounds (about $30) to get spectacular views.  It takes 30 minutes to go around.  We passed on that opportunity.

The Tower Bridge.  Notice the modern building behind it.

The boat trip took about an hour and it was a beautiful day.  When we got to Greenwich, we first visited the Maritime Museum.  There were some interesting exhibits and Bob got to see the chronometer that Harrison invented.  

Overall, though, we found the museum disappointing and not as interesting as our Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

We walked up a long hill to the Royal Observatory.  The view from the top was great.  

In the courtyard outside the Observatory, we saw this sundial -- the shadow of the dolphins' fins delineate the exact time on the metal sheet below the sculpture. 

 

We also got to stand on the Prime Meridian, with one foot in East longitude and one in West.  Pretty exciting for us old sailors!

The Observatory itself was interesting as we read about the resident astronomers who had lived there over the years and saw their telescopes.  However, the exhibit about John Harrison determining longitude had been taken down temporarily for a "steam punk" exhibit by some local artists -- a "tongue in cheek" portrayal of time machines.  Bob was pretty disappointed.

We took the boat back and then the tube to our apartment for an afternoon rest, followed by dinner in one of the local ethnic restaurants.  We had some great food in London.

On Wednesday, our last day, we decided to go see the British Museum in London.  Admission was free except for some of the special exhibits.   The museum was divided into periods, with relics from each period displayed.  Most interesting was the Lindow Man -- well preserved human remains from around the time of Christ found in a bog in 1984.  The remains were so well preserved that they were able to determine his cause of death and create possible scenarios surrounding his demise.

After the museum, we had lunch in a pub then headed back to the apartment.  After a rest, we went for a walk in Kensington Gardens which was a short distance away.  Once again, it was a beautiful day and lots of people were out enjoying the park.

Then we headed to a pub for a drink and some nachos and then to a Lebanese restaurant for a delicious dinner afterwards.

 This was our last night in London.  Bob and I were leaving at 4:00 in the morning to head to the airport to fly to Spain and Rick and Gayle were flying to Iceland and then home later in the day.