Time Zones and Hemispheres

If you can't guess from the title what this post is about, I'll give you a hint: it's about our trip to Greenwich. Greenwich (pronounced: Gren-ich, not Green-witch) is the home of the the UK's Maritime Museum, The Royal Conservatory, a VERY large park where the Royal Navy used to train, and the Prime Meridian. I'm sure that out of all of these, the Prime Meridian may be the most famous, but I also really enjoyed this massively huge park!

We came to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian, which is housed for tourists in the Royal Observatory. To get to the Royal Observatory, our rushed little group went through the Maritime Museum. Every time we asked someone where the Prime Meridian was, they just said "It's up the hill, but you'll have to hustle because the observatory closes in 30 minutes." For some reason unbeknownst to us, they kept doubting that we could get there that fast. I thought it was in the Maritime Museum (it is not) and Sarah and I walk pretty fast, so I didn't understand how we could possibly not make it. Let me tell you: it is pretty hard to get there in 30 minutes. You have to walk through a park about 1/3 of the size of Cenral Park and up the steepest hill you ever did see. Saying that this is the steepest hill ever is also saying a lot because I faced a pretty steep hill in Lynchburg, Tennessee after 4 miles of running to "Whiskey Hill" and with 9 more to go after it. The worst part is that it was just a steep incline with no steps. For some reason, steps actually make steep climbs somewhat bearable. However, we made it just in time to sneak inside and find what we were looking for.

I didn't actually get to stand where all the tourists stand in line to see the Prime Meridian, but I can tell you how to do it outside of the gates. Step 1: Climb the massive hill. Step 2: Turn right and look at all of the people standing in line to stand over the Prime Meridian. Step 3: Ignore them and move to the smaller gate on the far right just below the big terrace. There is a nice little pathway guarded by an unlocked gate. Step 4: Go through the gate and stand on the Prime Meridian Step 5: Annoy all the people in line behind you by taking a lot of pictures with every camera that is present and with every possible combination of people in your party.

From the top of this hill, you can also see pretty much the entirety of Greenwich, the really huge park, and some of the buildings in London. The park has a very large, sloping hill that would have been great to roll down if I hadn't been wearing a skirt. It is also very open and would be condusive to a great game of capture the flag or Sock Wars (If you don't know that reference, you've missed out on a lot of wonderful life). The view is spectacular! Just look:

My final advice is to also take a river taxi to Greenwich and go during the day. From the boat, you get a really cool view of London from the Thames that you don't get from buses or walking over bridges. There's something very removed and peaceful about being on the water and watching the bustle from afar. I don't know if that just comes from growing up on the river, but it gives you a sense of the big picture as you get to watch the patterns of movement on land. Also, Greenwich has a lot of really cute antique and food markets. Unfortunately, we didn't get there early enough in the afternoon to really enjoy them, but we caught a glimpse of some of the vendors' loot as they were packing up. I really want to go before about 3:00pm so that I have time to shop and taste my way through the markets.

You don't have to spend more than a day to fully experience Greenwich, but it is definitely worth the trip while in London! I loved seeing London and its surrounding areas from the water, and I can know claim that I have been in two places at once, which I think makes me a superhero.

#Greenwich