Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Greenwich 5: the Observatory

Directly behind the Queen's House, John and I revelled in the sight of parklands and The Royal Observatory.
Famous for marking the Greenwich Meridian (0º longitude) and Greenwich Meantime, the Observatory was built in 1675 by Charles II to aid in navigation at sea. We immediately set off to see it.
We were not alone. It's one of London's big tourist draws.
The view of the Thames, the Old Naval Academy and the Queen's House from the Observatory hill is definitely worth the arduous climb.
Soon we headed back down into Greenwich town
passing St Alfege Church built by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1718.
This über-hip lady had been showing up in front of us all day. 
As we approached the Thames, we passed the Cutty Sark, a clipper ship that once travelled the world.
John is headed for the entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which will take us under the Thames to the Docklands.
We were surprised how quickly we could walk to the other side. A bit damp and claustrophic!
Once on the other side, we caught a the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) to the Bank tube station and thence quickly home to Spitalfields. A full day of tourism!

No comments:

Post a Comment