"When sky dives into the Thames / Greenwich and I will sleep again / And wake again as friends"

Since my last post, quite a bit has happened! There is just so much to do and see here in London, I can hardly keep up with telling you about it all!

We floated past Tower Bridge!

On Friday, we had the pleasure of going on a river cruise down the Thames from Westminster to Greenwich. The weather has recently been much warmer than we were expecting, but things finally started to cool down on Friday, and so we experienced the Thames in the gloomy light of a cool, wet London day. It was nice to float down the river and think about all the history that it has lived through and all the changes that it has seen London experience.

The Thames is a lovely shade of brownish green…

Enjoying a pint.

Cheers!

Anne and I having a moment.

The famous Cutty Sark, the fastest (and last surviving) tea clipper of it’s time!

And more of the Cutty Sark…

We spent the rest of the afternoon going on a small tour of Greenwich, where we got to see the Old Royal Naval College. Evidently this is a pretty popular location for filming, as the Royal Naval College has appeared in movies such as Sherlock Holmes, Shanghai Knights, The King’s Speech, National Treasure 2, The Mummy Returns, The Duchess, and Charlotte Gray, just to name a few.

Old Royal Naval College

We were able to walk around the grounds and also explored the famous Painted Hall, which is covered in gorgeous artwork depicting the glory of Britain’s maritime tradition as well as past monarchs. This hall has also been used as the meeting place for the Venice secret society in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, as the fashion show venue in What a Girl Wants, and as the opulent Palace of Versailles in the movie Quills (Shh… Don’t tell the French!). This hall was so beautiful, the art was incredibly intricate, and it was a really awesome thing to see.

They had large, mirrored tables set up in the center of the room for easier viewing of the ceiling.

I think what strikes me most about London is that you go out and notice pretty normal city things: taxis, public transportation, pedestrians, fast food shops, corner stores. You also notice and are expecting to see the standard iconic things: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, red double-decker buses, Buckingham Palace, the Wellington Arch, the red telephone booths, black cabs, Hyde Park, the London Eye. When you go out for a walk or go on a tour of a different part of city, you see the typical sights, but then all of a sudden you’re exploring a tiny corner of the city that is completely rich in history that you’ve never heard about, or you’re walking through a grand building that is like a work of art. No matter how well-studied you might think you’re becoming about London, this city always manages to surprise you and show you something you weren’t expecting to see. There’s a lot that’s hidden in plain view here, and you soon realize that it’s your job to go digging around and uncover London’s secrets and treasures.

The gates at the Old Royal Naval College.

Greenwich is home to several interesting museums, including a museum for the Cutty Sark, the Queen’s House, the Royal Observatory, and the National Maritime Museum, which we walked through  briefly to get a sneak peek at some of the cool exhibits it contains.