Greenwich
Yesterday I took a day trip to London to visit the borough of Greenwich. I got off my East Anglia train in Stratford and went south on the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) to the Greenwich Maritime station.
Walking from the station I entered the first campus of several large public areas clustered together. My first stop was the Greenwich Hospital, formerly a palace and once a hospital for Royal Navy sailors. Here are the domes of the two main halls; the Canary Wharf buildings are between them in the background.
The hall on the left is known as the Painted Hall and used to host dinners for sailors.
Next I walked through this campus and across a road to Greenwich Park and its hills, upon one which sits the Greenwich Observatory.
The observatory houses the historic telescope that serves as the position of the Prime Meridian, the zero point of longitude. The telescope lens is behind the doorway below.
It's also the place where tourists can stand with one foot on either side of the meridian.
All GPS coordinates are based on this line. In addition, Universal Time is based here, making it literally the centre of space and time.
The observatory also stored the standard reference of several Imperial units of measurement, including the yard, foot and inch:
Another draw of Greenwich Park is the hills, which offer one of the best views of London. You can see the landmarks of the City (including St. Paul's, Tower 42, and The Gherkin) ...
... as well as the towers of Canary Wharf and the Docklands ...
... and in places you can see them both in a panorama that also includes the O2 Dome on the far right.
The rest of my trip was fairly uneventful. I alighted the DLR at the Canary Wharf station. I forgot to touch out with my Oyster card, charging me the maximum daily fare once I got on the Jubilee Line tube. Doh. (The Tube stations have barricades so you have to touch in and out; on the DLR, there are only occasional pedestals along walls that aren't hard to miss or forget.) I got off at Whitehall and walked to Trafalgar Square. I was hoping to take in an exhibit of photography from Vanity Fair magazine at the National Gallery, but it doesn't start for a few weeks. So I tubed back to Liverpool Street. I'd phoned a mate to share a meal and we'd agreed to meet at his flat in Hackney but bus service was altered due to construction, and as it was getting dark and I was unfamiliar with how to get there without the buses, I abandoned the plan and instead got a train home in time to join Margo and Sarah for dinner.
Walking from the station I entered the first campus of several large public areas clustered together. My first stop was the Greenwich Hospital, formerly a palace and once a hospital for Royal Navy sailors. Here are the domes of the two main halls; the Canary Wharf buildings are between them in the background.
The hall on the left is known as the Painted Hall and used to host dinners for sailors.
Next I walked through this campus and across a road to Greenwich Park and its hills, upon one which sits the Greenwich Observatory.
The observatory houses the historic telescope that serves as the position of the Prime Meridian, the zero point of longitude. The telescope lens is behind the doorway below.
It's also the place where tourists can stand with one foot on either side of the meridian.
All GPS coordinates are based on this line. In addition, Universal Time is based here, making it literally the centre of space and time.
The observatory also stored the standard reference of several Imperial units of measurement, including the yard, foot and inch:
Another draw of Greenwich Park is the hills, which offer one of the best views of London. You can see the landmarks of the City (including St. Paul's, Tower 42, and The Gherkin) ...
... as well as the towers of Canary Wharf and the Docklands ...
... and in places you can see them both in a panorama that also includes the O2 Dome on the far right.
The rest of my trip was fairly uneventful. I alighted the DLR at the Canary Wharf station. I forgot to touch out with my Oyster card, charging me the maximum daily fare once I got on the Jubilee Line tube. Doh. (The Tube stations have barricades so you have to touch in and out; on the DLR, there are only occasional pedestals along walls that aren't hard to miss or forget.) I got off at Whitehall and walked to Trafalgar Square. I was hoping to take in an exhibit of photography from Vanity Fair magazine at the National Gallery, but it doesn't start for a few weeks. So I tubed back to Liverpool Street. I'd phoned a mate to share a meal and we'd agreed to meet at his flat in Hackney but bus service was altered due to construction, and as it was getting dark and I was unfamiliar with how to get there without the buses, I abandoned the plan and instead got a train home in time to join Margo and Sarah for dinner.
posted by Michael Nelson at 4:34 am
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