June 3 – Greenwich

Got up really early (2AM) this morning to attend a baptism in Anchorage via Skype. Melanie was the Godmother for our pastor’s new baby, Victoria. It was an interesting experience to attend church and actively participate from 6,500 miles away. I’m sure Mel feels like a Godmother and the service was very real to all three of us.

Got up the second time around 8:30. Had simple breakfasts as we arrived downstairs. I guess I forgot to mention that we are staying on the third floor. You try to remember everything when you come down the first time but you usually must climb the mountain at least three more times. We did finally decide on going to Greenwich today. Left the house a little after 10.

On the way to the train we reloaded the Oyster Cards and stopped at the optician for Melanie. An uneventful hike to the train station and got right on a train to Waterloo Station. From there we hiked across the river and almost to Westminster Bridge to catch a boat to Greenwich.  Again be sure to let them know that you are over 60 or a student if you are. The prices come down quite a bit. The boat from the Westminster Pier is a tourist boat and usually has commentary on the trip. The Eye of London Pier is part of the public transit system and while less expensive there is no commentary. Not sure which to recommend.

The tourist boat does talk about points of interest along the river but you could get them from most any guide book and if there were pictures you wouldn’t have any trouble identifying them.. The trip does go under London Bridge, past the Tower of London, and under the Tower Bridge. This gives a different perspective of these landmarks.

When we got to Greenwich we went right up to the National Observatory. We went into the planetarium and saw a “school show”. The only one happy with the show was Don. To get to the place where you can straddle the Prime Meridian now you have to pay £5 if you are senior more otherwise. This is really a ripe-off as far as I am concerned. There is a nice museum there as well that gives information on the computation of longitude while at sea. Until the middle of the 18^th century making this computation was difficult. There is a book simply titled Longitude by Dava Sobel that explains the whole thing in easy to understand language. (Yes, I have read it.)

We took our pictures on the Prime Meridian and then we left to go to Greenwich to get a bite. Stopped in a pub to have a brew and a burger. Beer was good, burger was so-so, and the chips were so-so. Price for the beer was reasonable the rest was overpriced (my opinion) but then everything in London and vicinity is overpriced.

We returned to Melanie’s. Shopped for dinner fixin’s along the way. Bonnie and Kay had dinner just about ready to cook when Mel came home from work. The weather was sunny, warm, but breezy today. A jacket was required much of the time. All-in-all another lovely day. (pics later)