I went for a day out in Greenwich during the week. This wasn't the first time- I've been quite a few times before; to visit the Royal Observatory and straddle the meridian line, to pop into the delight that is The Fan Museum, with its fancy and informative collections and gorgeous fan-shaped garden, to go into the O2 (when it was the weird and wonderful Millennium Dome) and to stroll around the market square. I've also done the Thames river tour, docking at Greenwich, and absolutely love walking through the old foot tunnel.
I like that it's an area that's a bit arty-farty but not at all poncy, pretentious and up its own backside. I think that comes from it being east-side and I think Greenwich is the part of London I would like to live in the most.
This is the first time, however, that I've used the Emirates Airline cable car link as a from of transport. I loved it! It reminded me of the chairlifts they had in 1970s Butlins holiday camps! I have to question its location, though- it only seems to be of any use to those who live AND work locally, otherwise you'd simply jump on the Tube or Overground to get about. I should imagine it was built with one eye to the future- I couldn't help but notice that a hell of a lot of development is taking place around this area, on both sides of the river.
North-side and here's The Crystal, which contains an exhibition about sustainable development. It was an overcast day.
Here's one of the cars floating past the building.
Millennium Dome (that's how I know it, although it's now technically the O2) and the city.
An unhappy SuperDean (I don't think he'd slept well- but I had to include him as his big head was in the way in this photo I took of the suspended cars!)
Ditto.
We went for a walk along the Thames path. Maybe because I hadn't slept that well either, it seemed very tiring, especially when we encountered a closed section and had to take a detour inland, alongside the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach which, incidentally, was choc-a-bloc with traffic.
By the time we made it to the Old Royal Naval College we were exhausted. This building is vast and we decided to leave it for another day; one when we're hopefully feeling more energetic.
Instead, we ventured onto the Cutty Sark (which I, in my tiredness, kept referring to as "The Cutty Shark!" That's some malapropism!) I've always wanted to climb on board and I'm glad we did. This attraction was easy to traverse and quite bare, but I wasn't in the mood for taking in too much information so that was just as well. You get to see the bottom of the ship as it's suspended in its glass case, almost like a ship in a bottle. You also get to see a rather impressive collection of figureheads, including a copy of Nannie The Witch, who hangs from the front of this lovely old tea clipper. You do get a real sense of atmosphere as the boat still reeks of tea. It was actually a very relaxing tourist attraction.
Here's a photograph of this beautiful old ship.
A view of the city, taken from the bow of the Cutty Sark.
Greenwich foot tunnel entrance with the Shard in the background.
On the deck.
We still have more things to visit here, including the National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House- so Greenwich, I will be back.
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