October 9th, 2011: Part I - Greenwich Project

Today was my time to roam the much used walks and Renaissance architecture. The ride on the Thames Flipper - a water taxi - was beautiful and there were amazing views of previous dock areas and river branch offs into paved over canals.

Here is Tower of London as seen through the window of the Thames Flipper water taxi.

I believe this was the home that Royals enjoy staying at but I could be wrong.

This is the headquarters for the Thames Police who travel the river in speed boats.

The housing seen here is relatively new. It was built as a way to bring people to the Docklands and Covant Gardens area.This area originally had very little money due to its distance and poor transportation options from and to the City of London.

The great thing about landing at Greenwich was seeing one of London's oldest water skippers - huge boats used for cargo during the time of high trade leading up to 1970. The Cutty Stark is being renovated as an historical ship and meuseum to be ready by the 2012 Olympics. The masthead of the Cutty Stark - named for the bridge - has a story behind it:

The first captain of the Cutty Stark rode his horse into a clearing where he witnessed witches doing a ceremonial dance. When the witches found him hiding in the bushes he became scared jumping onto his horse. He rode hard toward Cutty Stark bridge which arched over the Thames near Greenwich at the time. The witches gave chase - grabbing onto the horses tail - but as the hooves of the horse touched the bridge they were forced to relinquish their hold as witches cannot cross water.

In true representation of this story the masthead of the Cutty Stark - when finished will be a carving of three witches the middle and forefront of whom is holding the tail of a horse. 

Here is the front prow of the ship - you can see the ornate frieze on the side which will span the whole ship in gold gilding when it's finished.

As many cities were - Greenwich was a port city. Right off the dock is a small quaint pub called The Gypsy. I didn't get a chance to go in, because I was on tour with Simon - one of the tour guides working in tandem with the FIE Study Abroad Centre in affiliation with the University of London.Simon took us to the painted room first - as well as let us explore the University of Greenwich area.

I should have done the 1,2,3 not the 3,2,1 panorama. But here is the painted ceiling  of the painted room - England's Sistine Chapel.

I thought this was very  moving and had great detail.

The whole ceiling of the dining hall.

One of the school building. I thought it was beautiful architecture - which I mentioned earlier.

Simon then  took us through the Greenwich market - comprised of item and food stalls and we wound our way through the village. We passed the Maritime Museum - I 'll talk about that later. We then walked behind the museum to the enclosed park behind - which includes deer although I wasn't lucky enough to spot one. This is the view of one side of the park.

The small dot racing towards humans were dogs. There were two cute puppies that I saw. One of them was playing football with his/her daddy. It was adorable how he/she headed the ball and then proceeded to catch it in his/her mouth and bring it happily back to daddy. Such a cute dog.

We took the climb up to the observatory and the Greenwich time line! :-D H^2 and I explored behind and found a beautiful back area that was peaceful and relaxing.

Thank for Mean Time Greenwich.

I believe the silver thing is a compass for latitude and longitude although don't quote me on that.

Aw yeah! The timeline inspired me to look happy although I was going for BA.

This is the small sanctuary of a garden I mentioned above.

The view from the conservatory was amazing. I wish I could have soaked it in on my own for a longer period of time.

Greenwich.

After eating wonderful food I explored the market stalls. Ended up with an old style ring with hearts, two books one a steampunk story and the other Beauwulf - an adaptation of the classic poem about a Viking Dog. The day ended well with a Skipper ride home. Here is the picture KF was kind enough to get me. I call The Bridge over the River Thames. 

Everyone seems to confuse Tower Bridge for London Bridge -including me. TT.TT. London bridge is actually less lavish and more plain looking.

So, that was my day in Greenwich. I hope to return to Greenwhich and London when there isn't scaffolding everywhere. :-D It gets in the way of perfect pictures. I hope to have a better camera then,too. My trusty one is getting finicky. I love it though.

~ H.C.