Yesterday was a day off. It was cold, rainy and windy and my feet hurt. Good enough reason to do groceries, washing, packing up shopping that is scattered around, cook some meals ready to microwave on late-back-home nights, etc. And have a couple of naps and read a book. Make yourselves comfortable though, as today I made up for it in the number of photos I took!
This morning the weather was still a bit ordinary but I went ahead with the planned Thames River Cruise (a hop-on/hop-off service with 4 stops) which goes up to Greenwich. The bus I caught terminated well before the stop I wanted on the supposed route, I think there was something going on in town today, roads closed, traffic not moving for several minutes etc. Everyone on the bus was surprised, not just me. So we all had to get out and walk.
However, that took me past Westminster Abbey and there was a very small queue to get in, so I decided to take advantage while I was there. Quite spectacular inside, and fabulous to walk down the same aisle the royal weddings take. But no photography allowed inside, and the queue in the shop was HUGE so I put the 50p postcard back on the rack and left. I'll download pictures if I want them! Once you get outside the main abbey building the cameras can come out again, and did. By which time the sun was out.
I think I will keep this as my new title for my business card. I will have to Google what a muniment is, but I'm sure I can keep those too.
There is surprisingly more to see than just the central abbey. Ruins of 14th century chapel
Central garden
Residences
Memorial stones on walls (the bluey oval picture is to circumnavigation, including to James Cook), graves under the paving stones.
Time for the river cruise ... but first, a token phone booth photo.
Certainly a fabulous way to see London, especially as there is a narration along the way. Took about 1 1/2 hours to get to Greenwich via the other 3 piers but I was in no hurry. Sights along the way ...
Big Ben - note like (it seems) most of the iconic sights this trip, a lot of scaffolding on it.
London Eye - not sure if I will be stumping up the fee to ride this
Oxo Tower - owners wanted to put illuminated signs for their product Oxo on the building but were refused permission so instead they built the tower with the windows spelling out the name.
Lots of bridges to pass under on the way
Shard and HMS Belfast
Tower Bridge (might have taken a few too many photos of this)
Was a bit concerned when the police starting chasing after the boat. I must have yelled at the other idiots on the boat too loudly (to get out of the way of my photo taking from my seat). Coincidentally the people who were beside me who did the same were also Australian. We must be an intolerant lot.
This pair did not pay for a ticket, just flew on in and rode along for a very long time. Perhaps that's who the police were chasing.
After decanting in Greenwich first stop was the Old Naval College. A lovely set of buildings at the Old Royal Naval College, originally built in early 1700s as a hospital for sailors. The columns on the colonnades are huge, as are the lanterns - there are a couple of people at the end of the row for scale.
It's been the site of many movie shoots, the one I recognised it from was in the second Thor movie where the alien spaceship lands.
One of the main attractions is the Painted Hall, which should look like this:
But nooooo. Continuing the scaffolding trend, and as the ultimate winner of the "P*ss Felicity off" scaffolding competition ...
Yes, yes, I know they have to curate it and repair but surely one little section at a time??!!
Next went to Greenwich Markets where on Wednesdays there were supposed to be art/craft people and the building was historic. Very disappointing - only a handful of stallholders with nothing of interest, and the building had none of the fancy ironwork etc that I was expecting.
Google maps tells me where the next stop, the Greenwich Observatory is. It did NOT make mention of the steep hill up to the observatory (see the people in the middle of pic, it got worse as it turned the corner!). Just as well there are lots of lookouts to take photos of while you get your breath back.
Did the essential tourist thing of standing with one foot either side the Prime Meridian line.
The narrator on the boat did say the tidal difference can be 25 feet. Had to take a longer way around.
Triple winner while waiting at the bus stop - bus, phone booth, letterbox!
There were bus issues on the way home - the required #11 didn't arrive for 1/2 hour instead of the 7 mins it should be (4 x 211 though, so can't be a traffic jam), one turned up then said he was stopping there for 20 minutes but another was on the way, then another "Not in Service" turned up but changed the sign to the #11 just as it was about to depart, then it terminated after 5 stops and we had to move to another bus further on. The poor French couple and kids I was helping couldn't understand what everyone was saying and I was having enough trouble figuring it out. A late arrival home and so the blog is delayed until today.
This morning the weather was still a bit ordinary but I went ahead with the planned Thames River Cruise (a hop-on/hop-off service with 4 stops) which goes up to Greenwich. The bus I caught terminated well before the stop I wanted on the supposed route, I think there was something going on in town today, roads closed, traffic not moving for several minutes etc. Everyone on the bus was surprised, not just me. So we all had to get out and walk.
However, that took me past Westminster Abbey and there was a very small queue to get in, so I decided to take advantage while I was there. Quite spectacular inside, and fabulous to walk down the same aisle the royal weddings take. But no photography allowed inside, and the queue in the shop was HUGE so I put the 50p postcard back on the rack and left. I'll download pictures if I want them! Once you get outside the main abbey building the cameras can come out again, and did. By which time the sun was out.
I think I will keep this as my new title for my business card. I will have to Google what a muniment is, but I'm sure I can keep those too.
There is surprisingly more to see than just the central abbey. Ruins of 14th century chapel
Central garden
Residences
Memorial stones on walls (the bluey oval picture is to circumnavigation, including to James Cook), graves under the paving stones.
Time for the river cruise ... but first, a token phone booth photo.
Certainly a fabulous way to see London, especially as there is a narration along the way. Took about 1 1/2 hours to get to Greenwich via the other 3 piers but I was in no hurry. Sights along the way ...
Big Ben - note like (it seems) most of the iconic sights this trip, a lot of scaffolding on it.
London Eye - not sure if I will be stumping up the fee to ride this
Oxo Tower - owners wanted to put illuminated signs for their product Oxo on the building but were refused permission so instead they built the tower with the windows spelling out the name.
Lots of bridges to pass under on the way
Shard and HMS Belfast
Tower Bridge (might have taken a few too many photos of this)
Was a bit concerned when the police starting chasing after the boat. I must have yelled at the other idiots on the boat too loudly (to get out of the way of my photo taking from my seat). Coincidentally the people who were beside me who did the same were also Australian. We must be an intolerant lot.
This pair did not pay for a ticket, just flew on in and rode along for a very long time. Perhaps that's who the police were chasing.
After decanting in Greenwich first stop was the Old Naval College. A lovely set of buildings at the Old Royal Naval College, originally built in early 1700s as a hospital for sailors. The columns on the colonnades are huge, as are the lanterns - there are a couple of people at the end of the row for scale.
It's been the site of many movie shoots, the one I recognised it from was in the second Thor movie where the alien spaceship lands.
One of the main attractions is the Painted Hall, which should look like this:
But nooooo. Continuing the scaffolding trend, and as the ultimate winner of the "P*ss Felicity off" scaffolding competition ...
Next went to Greenwich Markets where on Wednesdays there were supposed to be art/craft people and the building was historic. Very disappointing - only a handful of stallholders with nothing of interest, and the building had none of the fancy ironwork etc that I was expecting.
Google maps tells me where the next stop, the Greenwich Observatory is. It did NOT make mention of the steep hill up to the observatory (see the people in the middle of pic, it got worse as it turned the corner!). Just as well there are lots of lookouts to take photos of while you get your breath back.
Did the essential tourist thing of standing with one foot either side the Prime Meridian line.
Interesting displays if you are into how navigation, portable timepieces and the like came about. Back into town to catch the boat back. Oh, the tide has come in and the path is now underwater!
Triple winner while waiting at the bus stop - bus, phone booth, letterbox!
There were bus issues on the way home - the required #11 didn't arrive for 1/2 hour instead of the 7 mins it should be (4 x 211 though, so can't be a traffic jam), one turned up then said he was stopping there for 20 minutes but another was on the way, then another "Not in Service" turned up but changed the sign to the #11 just as it was about to depart, then it terminated after 5 stops and we had to move to another bus further on. The poor French couple and kids I was helping couldn't understand what everyone was saying and I was having enough trouble figuring it out. A late arrival home and so the blog is delayed until today.
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