27 March: Greenwich

Oh Greenwich, home of Greenwich Mean Time and a location of the prime meridian. Today was supposed to be a group trip day...but in reality there were a small amount of us. It was really fun though! First we went to the Royal Observatory and saw some old telescopes and walked around a little museum. The view from the top was SOOOO amazing. It looks down on the Queen's House at the bottom of the hill, but also shows the two big financial districts of London: the City and Canary Wharf.

After going through the museum inside the Royal Observatory we headed down the hill towards a pre-determined pub for lunch. Finally, I was going to try fish and chips. We had some scrumpy all around and then the fish and chips came. SO GOOD, especially with lots and lots of mayonnaise. Cliff (trip leader) promised to get us at least a little drunk so we each got two rounds, but of course, some of the little people like Becca puke after one so I actually got 2.5. I was feelin' gooood. Then we tipsily walked to the National Maritime Museum. Pretty neat stuff was in there. One could walk into a simulation of what a 1930s boat cabin would look like also, Sir Nelson's (of Trafalgar Square fame)outfit that he died in was there, you could see the bullet hole and blood! I think my favorite part was a gallery of pictures from the early 20th century of English men and women hanging out on the beach having a great time. I just love old pictures and the character they have.

The trip then headed to the Queen's House. Really all it is is a bunch of really gorgeous galleries in what used to be a vacation house for the Queen. Eh well. The greens around the house are beautiful and the boys/men at the Royal Navel Academy used to to cricket on the fields while the Queen watched. Speaking of the Royal Navel Academy, we also stopped by there to look at the dining hall area and chapel. Pretty pretty.

Strolling out of the Academy, we strolled right into a market and voila! BRAZILIAN CHURROS! These churros were chronic...filled with chocolate or caramel, whichever you preferred and they were monstrous! Anyway, we finished our churros and headed to the Thames Clipper to boat ride home.

And there you have it!