Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Time to see Greenwich

We've had such beautiful weather for the past few weeks.  
So, never knowing when the English rain will reappear, we try to get out as much as possible. 

On Sunday we decided to head to Greenwich via the Millennium Bridge and a boat along the Thames.  


We started at St. Paul's Cathedral and strolled over the river.  

The Millennium Footbridge was opened in 2000 for just a few days 
before they discovered there was a little too much shakin' going on.  


It took two more years for the engineers to make it safe for pedestrians and it reopened in 2002.  


I'm terrified of heights and I hate bridges, but I was really looking forward to this and had no fear.  Well, not too much anyway. 


To be honest, the Thames is not the best looking river.  
It's the color of English tea with milk and smells a bit.  
I certainly wouldn't want to get in that water.  


 But, it was a beautiful day. 


Our chariot arrived to take us to Greenwich.


We used our Oyster cards.  I think it was about 4 pounds for one way.  
What a great way to travel...comfy seating and a snack bar.


The trip was about 15 minutes and took us under Tower Bridge.  
It was fun to see London from a different perspective.  


We soon arrived at Greenwich which is a borough of London and a World Heritage Site.


The Cutty Sark is a famous tea clipper in dry dock in Greenwich.  It is currently closed and being renovated, hopefully, to reopen in time for the Olympics.  


We had to stop for a lager and my first Pimm's!
It was nummy and if you are in London on a sunny day you have to have one.  
It's a spicy gin based drink served with fizzy lemonade and fruits and cucumbers.  
Very refreshing and almost as popular as tea!


He is very happy to be back in the land of "real beer," as he calls it.  


We walked around the Old Royal Naval College.  


I love the history that surrounds us here.  Every place you go has a story.  


We wanted to be outside so didn't go into the Maritime Museum.  
We will have to save that for another day.  



We did pop in to the Queen's House.  This is  the infamous haunted Tulip Staircase
Luckily, no ghosts showed up in my pictures.


 Eager to get back outside, we walked through Greenwich Park and up the hill to the Royal Observatory.  


 It is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian so it's the starting point of each new day. 


  This is the Shepherd Gate clock at the Observatory.  
We didn't want to pay $20ish bucks to get in so it's also on the list for our next visit. 


The views were well worth the trek up the hill.  


We stopped several times to plop down in the grass like everyone else.  


Most Londoners don't have a backyard (garden) so they all share common green areas.
There were people sprawled out all over the place.  


We spent some more time visiting another local pub and the Greenwich Market.  
And after a nice dinner we took the bus home.  
I can't wait to have some visitors to join us in exploring.


 xoxo
Selena

12 comments:

  1. lucky you - perfect weather for the outing!

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  2. Looks like it was a beautiful day in the city. And I love me a Pimm's cup! Yum yum!

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  3. Just felt I had to point out a slight contradiction in your post, "the land of real beer" and lager don't really go together.

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  4. Lived in London for four years....loved it!

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  5. What a gorgeous day for exploring. A boat ride on the Thames sounds like such a cool way to see the city. Can I admit I've been here 6 months and haven't had a Pimms yet? Shame on me. Love the view from the top of the hill.

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  6. Beautiful! Love the photos- what a lovely day you had. Putting Greenwich on my list of "must-sees". Popping over from the Photography Club.

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  7. Lovely photo's, great capture of the spiral staircase. I came over from Busy Nothings Photography club.

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  8. Just popping over from the Busy Nothings Photo Club. I love that tulip staircase photo! So beautiful, and I also love the view from the top of the hill. It's so green!

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