Visit to Greenwich

Today, I woke up at 8:30 am and got ready for my trip to Greenwich with my program director and his wife. We all met at Piccadilly Circus and traveled around that area, and into Westminster, looking at various buildings by the architect Andrea Palladio. We saw the Burlington House, the Spencer House, the Queen's Chapel, the castle of Prince William, as well as the Horse Guard and Downing Street. I also passed by the Ritz Hotel too!

We then took a boat on the Thames River to Greenwich. The Thames River looks really dirty because of the tide that flows, however, because of the tide (massive tides and dramatic), it turns up the dirt from bottom - however, it is actually fairly clean. On the way, we passed by many great houses and sights in London, including the Tate Modern, the Tower of London, the new building for the London Government, and the Gerkin. We passed by a few houses that were millions of pounds, one being owned by Michael Crawford. I took some great pictures of the sights too. We also passed by the church where the captain of the Mayflower was buried.

Once we arrived to Greenwich, we walked through the University of Greenwich where they are currently shooting a movie of Gulliver's Travels. The campus was full of tents and props and green screens. We stopped for a bit to eat at a local pub too.

Next, we walked into the Painted Hall and the Chapel at the University of Greenwich, which were both magnificent.

We then went to the Queen's House and saw the tulip staircase, which was a staircase that had no support bar and was supported by the wall. It was very beautiful, however, we could not take pictures. We also saw some great paintings in the Queen's House too!

Then, we went up the hill toward the the Royal Observatory via Greenwich Park. Many people were outside enjoying this beautiful weather. Once we got to the topic of the hill, we had a great view. We also saw a giant red time ball that was attached to a weather vane. At 1:00 (both in the morning and the afternoon), it reaches the top and then falls down to alert those on the Thames River what time it was. This is where the official time of the world is kept and where the Prime Meridian line is, that divides the East from the West - so I was in two hemispheres at once! We then went into the museum and saw some great historical tools to keep track of time and to observe the sky. We also saw London's only public camera obscura. It was a dark room where there was a live "video" of the outside toward London - it was very interesting because it was mirrors that caused the view in live time - we saw people moving and buses driving.

We then went down the hill and had a snack in the National Maritime Museum. We then walked around the museum a while and headed toward the tube station. The DLR line on the tube is driven by a computer and there is no conductor - it is very interesting.

I returned home, received my compensation for the International Student House from Dr. Halsey, and took a nap. I woke up and completed some assignments for my internship program and then I am off to bed.

It was a long day, but very fun - a long weekend too with beautiful weather (I was told London is never like this)! Hopefully we can start to plan some trips soon so I can see other parts of Europe.

Cheers!