Remember that Eliot assignment I was working on a couple of weeks ago? Well today we finished it. Professor Talbot was unable to give us all the information he wanted to before we had to do the majority of the assignment, so he told us to skip the Greenwich section and that we'd be doing it later. Today was my group's later.
The Thames has a bend in it, and in that bend is Greenwich:
Greenwich was formerly called the Isle of the Dogs and it wasn't a place you wanted to visit. Ever. That has since changed, however, and it's a beautiful place that doesn't get visited by tourists nearly as often as it should be. Although, it was kind of nice being in an area not flooded with tourists.
Today was Memorial Day which is a bank holiday here in London. Basically, a bank holiday means most everything is shut down, and a lot of people get drunk. We ate lunch at the Cutty Sark pub and our group didn't want to move after the meal. The waitress responded, "It's okay! It's a bank holiday so you don't have to go anywhere. Just sit somewhere and drink all day." We didn't take her advice.
We walked along the Thames and saw all the things that wash up on the shore (it was amazing to see how many things there were on the beach. Ariel would have had a hayday). This part of the assignment didn't take that long, so we wandered around the empty streets and waited for the pub to open at noon.
While we were waiting we decided to go to the park below the Royal Observatory. It was a beautiful area and I was once again impressed with the size and cleanliness of the park. I love parks here! We hiked up a large hill and enjoyed the fantastic view.
We ate lunch and all of us, though this was entirely unplanned, ordered a British cheeseburger. One of the waitresses came over to give us napkins and utensils, and called us the table of burgers. We were chatting with her as she distributed the forks and knives and she told us that we were all incredibly polite. Our parents would be proud. Also, I'm convinced that only the people in central London hate (which is a strong word. They just don't have a lot of tolerance for) Americans. Get outside the tourist-infested area and people are really very kind.
We then headed back to the train station to go back home. On Saturday, most of the girls in my room went on one of the walks for our class. Because I wasn't feeling quite up to snuff I decided that I would go today. I was the only one who needed to go on this one so I went alone.
I learned a lot in that experience: I am not very good at reading maps, I'm good at looking like I know what I'm doing even when I don't (a man came up and asked me for directions that I was unable to provide), I like walking around London alone when I know where I am, I shouldn't be allowed out on my own when I'm not feeling 100%.
It was a cool experience, but I don't know that I'll be repeating it. Actually, I might do some of the park walks alone because getting lost in a park is a lot more appealing than getting lost in the City of London. Thankfully, I only got turned around a few times (because the street names change every couple of blocks here), and I made it back safe and sound and incredibly tired.
Because I was so tired I spent the rest of my afternoon napping and adding pictures to Facebook. It was a pretty productive day.
I think they were setting up for the bank holiday.
This is an old ship that they've preserved.
The Thames
Look at everything that washed up!
You may recognize this from Thor 2
Lizzie and me. We're getting better at this whole picture-taking thing.
A woman gathering things on the beach.
He didn't have a hand, so Caitlin lent him hers. She's nice like that.
A street in Greenwich
A hospital along the Thames
This was cool. It was a picture book built into the wall. This is the end pf the story, but it starts at the corner.
Lizzie
Caitlin and an anchor sculpture
Just outside the Cutty Sark
Kenna and some weird Russian nesting dolls.
The dolls:
There are some beautiful gardens here.
African daisies! These are one of my favorite flowers and seeing them reminded me of home.
Where's Caitlin?
She was waiting for Thor to come, but he didn't show. I guess that means we weren't in mortal danger today.
A bit of the park
Ah it was so beautiful!
My camera was having a hard time with lighting today. From left to right: Kenna, Caitlin, Lizzie, Sarah.
The view from the top of the hill
Kenna and Caitlin were so excited about the little glasses with ketchup and mayonnaise.
There was a knife in my burger. No big deal. Also, those fries were delicious and I want more.
On our way from Greenich we found more people in the area. There were a bunch of older people swing dancing to music from the 50's and it was kind of my favorite thing.
On the walk. I forget the name of this man, but he was important. Also, that's the Royal Exchange in the background.
The doors to one of the many churches here.
That tall building is referred to as the cheesegrater.
Leadenhall Market
Because it was a bank holiday most of the shops were closed and it was pretty quiet.
A cool building that's reflecting another cool building behind me.
Because why not make plants your primary form of building decor?
So that was a bit of today. It was wonderful and I am ready for a long sleep now.
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