Log

Today, I went to the Observatory of Greenwich, London, and Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After waking up that day, me and my family (my mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa) went from our Airbnb apartment to the Westminster Pier in a taxi. The taxi was peculiar and different from the ones I usually see where I live in Virginia, US. The taxi was like no other, designed to hold up to five people (not including the driver). It produced that function by having 3 seats in the back like a normal car but with a 2-extra flip down seats that are face to face with the back 3 seats. In the taxi, I looked outside and noticed that many kids like me were wearing school uniforms we arrived at the pier, we bought a family ticket (via. The oyster card) the company we had was pretty good, and it was called the TRS and if you want to check it out, you can click on the link: http://www.thamesriverservices.co.uk/ (we did the one hour tour) During boarding, the guide came on and gave an introduction of the tour and about himself: “Welcome to the boat everyone, you may find a seat on the top of the boat or inside of the boat. I will be your guide today and we will start from the big ben tower after everyone gets seated. Then we will work our way to the tower bridge then we will stay a bit and then get to the Greenwich observatory. So, we waited for the boat to start moving forward. After everyone boarded we noticed that almost everyone had squeezed up on the top deck, so when we were on the bottom it felt like a private boat! It even had panorama windows to present the view better. In my opinion, it was better inside as it was warmer without the wind. In the front row seats where we sat, there was a ledge in front that you could use as a table. Which came in handy with the giant number of snacks we brought. Then after a few moments, the boat started moving. And the guide started talking about the big Ben tower. During the trip, I took many pictures of the scene, here are some of them:

(To be continued)

The trip felt relatively short and after a while, we were there. The Greenwich Observatory was in a silent little town up on a hill. From the boat, we walked up onto the dock and headed to the observatory visitor center which was not far from the dock. In the visitor center, we quickly went to the restrooms and located the observatory. We walked for a while into the town until we reached the gates where we went through and got to the little hill which was extremely steep. It was almost as if I were walking on a smooth wall. As we finally reached the top, I noticed that there was an amazing view from up on the hill. After we arrived, we took some time to take some photos and sit for a bit before going into the observatory/museum. The people under the hill looked like little dots from this high. Even the buildings looked like doll houses. But then it was time to head to the observatory itself. Inside the observatory, we got audio guides and headed in. In the observatory, we saw one of the first kinds of telescopes and I even got to see through it! Inside the telescope, I even saw Saturn! The telescope was supported by a ladder and was almost 5 feet tall! We also saw a globe and the audio guide explained how you could calculate time with the longitude and some other mathematics. After a while though, it was time to see the line! You may wonder what “the line” is. “The line” is obviously a line, but as the equator splits the northern and southern hemisphere, “the line”, also known as the prime meridian, splits the eastern and western hemisphere. So I decided to have one foot in the western hemisphere and another foot on the eastern hemisphere. So then I would be standing on both hemispheres at once. When you think of it that way though, the concept seems really mind-blowing to me! The line was a gold-colored glass feeling thick and bold line that seemed as if it was the centerpiece. After we were done with some pictures, many other people came too and soon after we left, the place became so busy there were multiple lines to take a picture with the line. After visiting the observatory, we put back the audio guides we bought from earlier and got on our way out. But on the way out, me and my dad insisted on a trip to the gift shop, where he bought some postcards and I bought a mini globe key chain.

We then went back down the hill, which was a bit scary, considering how steep it was and that I was running. My mom already found a restaurant and we headed to the place. It was a pretty tiny restaurant, but the food was delicious! We had mashed potatoes and pies and chicken. And of course, I wanted some Dessert. So we ordered two scoops of fresh ice cream. After a while, it arrived and me and my dad devoured it in minutes.

After leaving the restaurant, we called a taxi and headed to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After arriving, my grandparents and my mom were too tired to go so they decided to stay in the Starbuck’s next door and me and my dad went through the line to get the ticket and headed in. We then got two audio guides and walked around admiring the beautiful glass art and paintings on the dome. We also saw some sculptures and even people who actually used the cathedral as its main purpose, to also just be a cathedral. Then I had a great idea after watching people on the top of the dome. I checked the audio guide and there was a way to get to the almost very top of the whole cathedral! But there were only stairs, but that was okay. We climbed about two hundred fifteen stairs to the “whispering exhibit” according to the audio guide if two people stand on opposite sides of the dome, and one whispers to the wall the other person should be able to hear that person through the wall because of the awesome dome architecture. After taking a few moments to look down and admire the dome in all, we took another about two hundred fifteen stairs to the stone exhibit which was on the outside of the cathedral outside of the dome. The view was amazing except for the long line and the bars that made it hard to take photos of the beautiful city. After waiting in the line for about ten minutes, it was our turn. This time the stairs were a bit more non-renovated due to the age of the building. Then unexpectedly, there were iron swirly stairs that made it easy to drop something down to the scary darkness. I clutched my phone nervously and we finally made it to the top. It took a bit longer to get up the stairs as many people wanted to get to the golden exhibit to see the best view of London (In my opinion)! The deck was tiny but we all managed to squeeze up to the deck and take photos. On the way down it was much easier as walking down the stairs was basically just sticking out your foot and let gravity do its thing. Then just alternate between feet, well at least I think of it that way. After getting down all the steps, we returned the audio guides and headed to Starbucks to use the restrooms and also to let my mom and grandparents know that we were done with the cathedral. After that, we called another taxi to get home. Now that was my log on the amazing visit to the Greenwich observatory and Saint Paul’s Cathedral!

Here are some photos of the view in Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Your not allowed to take pics of the inside but here’s the view):

(To be continued also)

Guide:

If you need to find a reliable taxi calling service, I suggest the app “GETT”, it’s free and available in the app store (don’t know about android or google play) But even without a taxi calling app, there are many many taxies on the streets of London.

If you ever need to know the subway there, try tube map! It isn’t just a map, it can also tell you the easiest way to get from one place to another. (also free on app store) also, I don’t know about the android stuff. This is also available in other cities too.

If your thinking of a light and easy breakfast, you can see “PRET A MANGER” which is almost everywhere over London. This is their website: https://www.pret.com   They also have many vegetarian options and serve lunch as well as dinner. (It’s the shop with the star logo) It’s like the London Starbucks!

Try these tips for an easy and manageable vacation/trip!