I first posted this on the Medill Global Blog
This weekend, we took a boat trip to Greenwich. It’s a lovely way to see London….everyday, I hop on the Tube to get to work. You tend to miss things, like scenery. Occasionally, we get “buskers” entertaining us in the Tube hallways. I remember grooving to a rousing rendition of “American Pie” in the Tube.
So, boat trip to Greenwich….still part of London. It’s a 50 minute boat ride past the Tate Modern, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and more.
This is from the Tower of London – you can’t see this from the river bank….only from the Thames.
Here’s a nice pix my honey took of me…standing over the Prime Meridian of the World (0� longitude)…it’s at the Royal Observatory
The world time is set Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This line (it’s tough to see on a grey day) is where the Eastern Hemisphere meets the Western Hemisphere.
Folks met in 1884 for this International Meridian Conference. Greenwich was chosen for Longitude 0� because US already used it for the basis of its own national time zone. Plus they figured since a bunch of folks used Greenwich for sea charts and stuff, “it would inconvenience the least number of people.”
Back in the day…the Royal Observatory was pretty darn important for astronomy…but with the expansion of London and more city lights shining in the night….it became down right impossible to do any real work…’cause the sky was pitch black….you kinda need that if you want to study stars.
On the boat ride back to central London, we floated under the Tower Bridge.
The eye looks totally cool at night….someday, we’ll get around to riding it.
On Sunday, we went to church.
Don’t worry, I took the pictures after Mass.
It was a sunny day. We took a bus to the Natural History Museum
I suspect Sundays are the worst days to visit these free sites. It seems like everybody wants to take their kids to these places. The dino exhibit was a circus.
Still, it full of cool things. I think we’ll try to come back on a weekday. When everybody else is working or in school.
