September 10 2016 Westminster Abbey & Greenwich
We took the tube to Westminster and finally had a chance to visit the Abbey. Honestly, words cannot describe the beauty and sense of wonder you feel in this place! We then used the end of our 24-hr Thames River cruise ticket and took the boat to Greenwich. It was raining (first day so far), so we sat underneath instead of the top deck. We had lunch at Goddards of Greenwich on the main street because they advertised Traditional Pie & Mash. Our lunch was delicious. Blaine had the steak pie, and I had a vegetarian (cheese & onion).
We hiked the hill to the Royal Observatory which is at 0 degrees longitude. Although we arrived just as the Observatory was closing :-(, it was pretty cool to be at the Prime Meridan and to set our watch by the clock where all the world's time is measured, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). As we hiked down the hill back to town, we got to see the National Maritime Museum, the Old Royal Naval College, and the Queen's House (built in 1616 for James I's wife, Anne of Denmark). The Queen did not want her view of the Thames obstructed, so the Old Royal Naval College is 2 buildings divided in the middle so the view is clear for the Queen. This is very apparent from the top of the observatory hill.
We took the tube back to Picadilly Circus & Leicester Square. Still rainy day, so we stopped in the Bear and Staff for a drink and to charge Blaine's phone (which we are using constantly for our navigation and Tube info). We found ourselves in Chinatown, so decided to have dinner there. Little Penang had fantastic food. Blaine had a duck dish, which he loved! I had a delicious soup and vegie spring rolls.
