Off to Greenwich Today - The time was right!

It was a bit of a change of pace for us today as we jumped on and Uber boat and headed out of the city center to Greenwich and a much slower more relaxed time. The views from the boat back across the city showed many of the key buildings in a different light. Despite the lack of hustle and bustle there were lots of options to keep us interested and entertained.

There are arguably five major attractions in the heart of Greenwich. The Cutty Sark-the world's only surviving tea clipper (for complete clarity that's a ship), The Old Royal Navy College and Maritime Museum, The Queens House, Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory featuring the Prime Meridian Line.

Our first stop was a walk through the grounds of the Old Navy College, Britain has a great navy history and historically for many years they ruled the waves. Where we were standing was at the very heart of this. The grounds were open and immaculate. Despite all the navy stuff the Colleges main claim to fame now days is that it is a very popular movie set. Many high-profile movies have scenes shot at the Royal Naval College including Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean, Les Misérables, Four Weddings and a Funeral.... it's a very long list.

On the way up to the Observatory we bypassed the Queen House and strolled across Greenwich Park a lovely open space where kids on school trips were playing football and running about. The sun was really beating down now and predicted to hit 27 degrees. Fortunately, there was some shade at the extremities of the park, and we were able to 'pick a path' that enabled us to mostly stay in the shade as we climbed the hill up to the Royal Observatory. I think for anyone who was quite academic, with a scientific bent- especially for astrology this would be a must do activity. I quite enjoyed it as well. However, the most exciting thing for me was to be able to place one foot either side of the Prime Meridian Line which has a latitude of 0 allowing people to have 1 foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western hemisphere at the same time - cool eh!

There were spectacular views from the Royal Observatory across Greenwich, The Thames to the London skyline.

On the way back to the river Thames and our Uber boat we called into the Queen's House, a very imposing building constructed between 1616 and 1635 as a gift for Queen Ann. It was the birthplace of Henry V111 and also two of his children. Architecturally the house features the very impressive Tulip Stairs Britain's first self-supporting spiral staircase. Sadly, it was roped off so Jeanette couldn't climb it all the way to the top! Throughout the rooms there were many amazing highly prized paintings. The internationally renowned collection features work by Turner, Hogarth and Reynolds. Lots of portraits, battle scenes, landscapes that all told their stories in their own was. Actually, really interesting and well worth a look.

Our last port of call was the Catty Sark Tea Clipper, in her prime she ruled the trade roots throughout Europe, Asia and beyond. Such was her speed she could sail from Sydney to London in just 72 days! Operating with a crew of just 26 she was a lean, mean speed machine as she initially plied her trade collecting tea from China. As that dried up her trips expanded across the globe to wherever transport was needed and this included wool from Australia. Eventually as steam took over she became a training ship and ultimately fell into disrepair.

The Cutty Sark has now been restored and in permanent dry dock in Greenwich has been opened to the public to enable all to experience the sights, sounds and smells of life on board during an amazing sea faring area. If Jeanette wished she was 6ft tall when we were at the Trouping of the Colours she was definitely the winner of 'height wars' today. Below deck of an historic sailing ship is a very challenging place for anyone close to 6ft tall I'll give you the tip- I definitely have a few bumps and bruises to support that theory!

We also made time to have a bite to eat and a drink at the Trafalgar Pub. A very colourful and eclectic establishment right on the banks of the Thames. Highly recommend making this part of your Greenwich experience if you ever have the opportunity.

Also, we didn't make it there but just across the river, was the O2 Arena, a gondola and a bunch of other interesting things to do. Something for next time maybe....