Greenwich

Today was a very hot day. The temperature has risen back into 80s. Depsite the heat, Callie and I went to Greenwich, which is right outside of London. How do you get there you night ask? Well, take the tube to Westminster, then you switch to the Jubilee line and go all the way to Canary Warf. There you leave the Tube station and you walk to the DLR station at Heron Quays (pronounced keys) and then travel to Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich.

Greenwich is so nice. It's not very touristy in most areas. We went to the market and looked at the usual items there. Then we walked down to the National Maritime Museum. We didn't go into this museum, instead we went to the Royal Observatory which is up the steep hill behind the museum. After eating a Tesco sandwhich for lunch in the walkway between the museum and the Queen's House, we took the little free train up to the Royal Observatory cause it was so hot. This place is free, however when you get your admissions ticket they try really hard to get you to buy the booklets for £3.50. But we were poor college students.

If any place in Greenwich, this is where all the tourists will be. This is the home of the Greenwich Prime Meridian. This is where the Longitude line is 0 degrees. On this line, I found the Latitude line for Dallas. It was very cool. We then explored the little museums about the history of the obervatory and the creation of the Longitude line. If anyone has seen the A&E movie series called "Longitude" or has read the novel "Longitude: The True Story of Lone Genius Who Solved The Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time," which tell the story of John Harrison and his quest to solve the problem of navigating a ship with it's exact position while at sea, then this is a the place to see Harrison's clocks. They are amazing, and they still work.

From the Royal Observatory we walked back down the steep hill. If you lost control of your feet, you would find yourselves rolling all the way down. Back in the little town we spurged with our money to get Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then it was back to the city.

Before I finish however, I must make a note about the Westminster tube station. It's amazing! It's all grey and there are large beams of metal that are supports for the many different levels. It's very futuristic. This is a perfect place to film a Sci-fi movie, if it hasn't been done already. It can be a space station. Also, because it's all underground it's nice and cool in there. I'm tempted to just hang around the station on hot days because it's so nice. If you get the chance when you're in London visit this tube station.