6th July 2011 – Before leaving for Oxford via train in the evening, we took up Jac’s advice and made a trip to Greenwich. We checked out from Tune Hotel and paid 1 pound per luggage just to leave our luggage with them. This is cheaper than depositing our luggage at King’s Cross station and after the locker at Gare du Nord, we prefer a less complicated way to leave our luggage. We took the tube from Lanbeth North and stopped at Embankment Station.
Taking the river bus (Thames Clippers) from Embankment to Greenwich gave plenty of breathtaking views along the River Thames, amongst them – Tower Bridge and Tower of London. The only annoying part is the river bus will make many stops to and fro, left and right of the river, so it wasn’t really a smooth sailing. Frankly, I got a little dizzy from that. Somehow we did not know how to pay the fare. Even though there’s a conductor, she walked pass us without asking us to pay. In the end, we walked up to her and paid our fares.
As of today, I am still confused about London Bridge and Tower Bridge but I was told that Tower Bridge is the one that opens up while the other don’t. I took this picture near Tower of London, so I guess it’s Tower Bridge.
A view of Tower of London from River Thames. The ‘Entry to the Traitor’s Gate caught my eyes. As Tower of London once served as the main palace for the Kings of England, armoury and Royal Mint, it had also served as a prison and execution place. This Traitor’s Gate was the entrance for transporting prisoners. Princess Elizabeth, was one of them once, before she became Queen Elizabeth I.
Looking to the back, there are Westminster Bridge and Big Ben.
The interior of the ferry is very comfortable and there’s a counter selling nice smelling coffees and snacks.
Once arrived at the Greenwich Pier, we were greeted by strong cold wind. I know it will look odd (it’s summer!), but here is when I gave up pretending, pulled out my trench coat and started wearing it for the rest of the trip because summer in UK, is not that warm, after all.
Greenwich Market. We arrived too early for the action.
The Painted Hall. The whole building (even the ceilings) is painted and clearly reflected on the mirrors, placed on flat tables along the aisle.
Pirates of the Caribean : On Stranger Tide was filmed at Old Royal Naval College.
A trip to Greenwich London will not be complete without visiting the infamous Royal Observatory , the home of Meridien Line. In order to get to the observatory, we had to walk into Greenwich Park first, which spread over 74 hectares and the observatory is at the top! To make thing harder, there was a major equestrian event going on and we had to walk a big circle to reach the top.
The line where yesterday met today, or shall I say today met tomorrow? It’s extremely hard to take a clear picture of the line without extra ‘stunt man’ appearing in our photo because the whole Europe was on summer holiday. Entrance fees was 7 pounds per person.
By noon, Greenwich Market lightened up but unfortunately failed to impress us.
For 5.95 pounds per set we got this pork chop set at Green Village Restaurant. Nothing too impressive but we love the hospitality of the elderly owner.
At the end of the day, we took a long distance train from Paddington Station to Oxford. It was hectic but I’ve decided to write about it in next post as the story is lengthy.
