Greenwich (Updated)

Hi folks. I suppose I could have posted earlier about yesterday's activities, but I got lazy, and decided instead to hang out and have a Kronenbourg 1664.

But yes, after Thursday's excrutiatingly simply investment dispute exam, myself and Erik decided to take the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) down to maritime Greenwich, which is somewhat southeast of central London. The DLR is part of the London transport network, so our tube passes worked fine. In heading down to Greenwich, we passed through an area of London called Canary Wharf, which is sort of on a bit of a peninsula into the Thames.

Anyways, the Canary Wharf development could not have been more different than central London. It consisted entirely of high rise glass skyscrapers, built right up next to a series of canals. I mean really, while we were on the DLR through the development, it felt like we were in an entirely different city. Chicago, actually. The DLR itself is above ground, kind of like the "L," so that added to the Chicago references. It was pretty wild.

We spent probably about 5 hours at maritime Greenwich, which was fantastic. Let me give you a tip, if you are ever in London, and have an afternoon to spare, make the trip to Greenwich. It is absolutely fantastic, interesting, and much less crowded than the typical London sights. Greenwich, as in "Greenwich Mean Time," is the home of the Royal Observatory, where the prime meridian is located. So yes, I have a photo of myself straddling two hemispheres. The observatory was simply great, because it had a ton of information both on the establishment of the prime meridian, as well as its importance to maritime navigation. It was really a great time, and best of all, completely free!

Aside from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich also has a superb old Naval College, which was originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren (he designed St. Paul's Cathedral). We saw a wicked dining room, as well as a chapel. It was really neat to see such a concentration of English Baroque buildings. In central London, you get such a hodgepodge of styles, so the similarity of the buildings was striking. Best of all, the buildings currently hold a music college, and there was some sort of summer jazz education program going on, so the 200+ year old rooms echoed with the sweet, sweet sounds of America's original art form.

We also went to the National Maritime Museum, and a smallish palace called the Queen's House. I think the most impressive thing I saw was the actual jacket worn by Admiral Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar, complete with the fatal bullet hole in the left shoulder. Of course, Trafalgar was perhaps Britain's greatest naval victory, where the Royal Navy defeated Napoleon's fleet off the Spanish coast in 1805. The aptly named Trafalgar Square (right down the way from Parliament) has a giant column with a statue of Nelson at the top, gazing towards Trafalgar, surrounded by bronze lions which were cast from melted down French cannons. Nelson himself is like George Washington to the British. To see his actual jacket was pretty unbelievable, in fact, I couldn't really quite believe it was happening. Along with his coat, the museum also had Nelson's blood stained stockings, as well as his sword (I think). Absolutely incredible.

Unlike a lot of tourist destinations in London, there was actual tangible and informative exhibits at Greenwich, and I couldn't recommend it enough to any traveler bound for England. Furthermore, compared to the crush of tourists that you'll find in central London, Greenwich was comparatively abandoned. Great afternoon.

To top it off, we traveled via Underground to the O2 Arena, just to say we had been there, and then walked down the river a bit to see the giant Thames barriers. The barriers are some sort of modern engineering masterpiece, and function to protect London from any storm surge coming up the Thames. We didn't get too close, but it was still fairly impressive to think about. When you think about all the incredible structures in London built right at the banks of the Thames, you realize how important such a flood control structure is.

So yes, last weekend in London. I won't say I'm not a bit sad, but all good things must come to an end. I will post some photos from Greenwich soon, since I took a ton. Also, tomorrow I'm going to visit the Tower of London, so hopefully I will have some photos from there as well. Until then, cheerio, toodles, au revoir...

UPDATE - Photos have been posted from Greenwich on the photo site.