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The very end of April, 2002, continued

It was a beautiful day in London. We decided to take advantage of the weather and take a boat ride to Greenwich. Yes, of Greenwich Mean Time fame (although it's actually known as Universal Coordinated Time these days; Zulu to those in the military or aboard ships).

This picture shows us starting out, in London. At left is the Millenium Eye, a temporary Ferris Wheel. At right is the Saint Stephens clocktower (with Big Ben within) and the Palace of Whitehall.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Bankside, Southwark, London. A faithful reconstruction of the 1599 open-air playhouse where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his plays. Plays are stages, visitors tours and particiation projects are available. From their catalog: audiences of this ‘wooden O’ sit in a gallery or stand informally as a groundling in the yard, just as they would have done 400 years ago.

The Tower of London. We had another great day here. The Crown Jewels, the Beefeaters, the stories of yore, relaxing in the courtyard. Another must-see half-day (or more).

The Tower Bridge. Not the London Bridge (as most [Americans] believe), which is the next span - to the west - across the Thames. That was sold to someone in Arizona. The old London Bridge used to have houses built upon it, by 1500 it was more crowded than most modern malls.

If memory serves, this is Greenwich. We dock nearby.

Before we go ashore we get a good look at the Millenium Dome, something we skipped seeing. The stories of the half-full dome, high entrance prices, and hot and humid space within effectively kept us away.

Once we went ashore we found our selves in beautiful Greenwich. We needn't have taken the boat, there's a Tube stop here, but it's the journey that counts. We loved it. We followed the winding streets through old, touristy Greenwich, until we arrived at the observatory grounds. The best-known marker of the Prime Meridian, our destination, is a good bit uphill from here. Isaac saw airplanes.

Here's a panoramic view from the Greenwich Observatory. The fenced-in area at left is the for-profit area, which seemed too crowded and expensive for my tastes that day. The main attractions were (1) being able to be photographed standing astride the Prime Meridian and (2) looking at the Greenwich Observatory Shepherd Gate Clock. This we skipped.

In stead, we went to the other demarcation of the Prime Meridian, on the walkway which spirals up to the Observatory. Here you see Rose (and Isaac's sandwich) in the East Longitudes, and The Boy's Club in the West Longitudes. (Sandwich and boy were soon re-united.)

Isaac was very impressed by the sheer number of "boys in skirts" that we saw on the tour boat on our return to London. Scottish scouts, we were told. Even the girls wear kilts. (I thought that if the boys wore skirts then the girls ought to wear pants, but noooooooo. :-)

All done, we head home. Our destination thereafter is Kensington Palace.

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