Saturday 14 April 2012

London Greenwich

Will I ever get caught up?  This is the second half of our London visit.  I've been back and updated the previous post to include a link to the official London2012 site as I missed that off before.

On the other day of our weekend we paid a visit to Greenwich which I had not been to since I was at school in the 60's (look out girl, showing your age!).  Sadly it was a bit of a gloomy, not to mention chilly, day but we still enjoyed the day.  

First port of call was the site of the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper.  Actually, very little of the original ship survived a fire after its last restoration but now the ship has been restored in all its glory and is opening to the public again later this month.  As part of the restoration it has been raised up so that it is more clearly visible to the passing public.



Don't fancy his job up there!


Looking across the river you can see the business area of Canary Wharf.  It was a bit cold on the riverfront so we wandered off to Greenwich Market which has a long history and which is soon to be moved from its present site much to the consternation of the traders.



The market was a great vibrant place and we enjoyed a quick lunch in a small cafe before venturing back out into the chilly wind.  


I couldn't resist snapping this shelf of aromatherapy oils on the way out. Definite design potential there!


Looking back across Greenwich Park the Royal Naval College flanks a view of Canary Wharf. 


Interesting views across the London skyline.  The building with the four chimneys is an old power station but the front looks more like a church.  


We toiled up the hill to the site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the photo above needs no explanation (please do click on it to enlarge it).  ;-)


This fascinating building is the Peter Harrison Planetarium and is now London's only Planetarium.  It is made of over 200 bronze panels which have been 'brushed' or coated to give a textured appearance (sorry, I can't remember the details).  






This wonderful onion dome building contains the 28" reflecting telescope which is the largest of its kind in the UK and the 7th largest in the world.  The telescope is in regular use and the public can come to regular viewing nights in the winter months.  I am sure there is much design potential in the shapes here and even in the shadow marks around the base of the onion which I think are probably the effects of the weather. 



This was the closest we could get to the meridian or any mention of it as you had to pay to see it at teh Observatory and we didn't have enough time to make it worthwhile going in as we had to rendezvous with our coach.

On the way back down through Greenwich Park we came to a memorial garden to the victims of the Titanic disaster.







The garden was not at its best after the winter but I thought this memorial poignant in view of the 100th anniversary of the sinking which took place at 2.20am on 15 April 1912.  It is 'thanks' to this terrible tragedy that many of today's safety measures at sea came into being.  Many ships have been lost at sea but the tragedy of the Titanic lives on in people's psyche.

12 comments:

Fenland Textile Studio said...

Thank you so much for sharing these pictures. I feel quite home sick. I lived in Greenwich for about 16 years before coming up to Lincolnshire. I was only a five minute walk from the Cutty Sark and markets. Not had a London fix for about a year...

Lyn said...

We have never been to that area so found the post really interesting.
Thank you for sharing it.
xxx

Jackie said...

Love the virtual visit with you...and upon enlarging Stewart's photo, I smiled. Yes, I did!
Great placement, Julie!!!
Hugs and love,
J.

ju-north said...

A journey with interesting artefacts!

Heather said...

I haven't been to London for years and probably wouldn't recognise half of it now. Your photos are excellent inspite of the gloomy weather but as for that oldest object - he didn't look that old to me!
Lovely to see the Cutty Sark restored and open to the public. We have the SS Great Britain in Bristol and I loved going over that very early on in it's restoration.

imac said...

A small charge will be made - if you wish to touch the old Artifact

Gina said...

Your lovely photos of London remind me of when I ran the London Marathon many years ago and we ran round the Cutty Sark. You are very mean to your dear husband!

Su said...

I revisited Greenwich a couple of years ago when I went to a conference at the university there. It's a lovely place and was remarkably similar to when i lived there as a dance student in the 1980s (although of course none of the docklands development was there then!). I was also born there, although as we moved when I was one I only know that period through photographs!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic views Julie, looks like a trip to London is in order, so much new building going on, wow, great stuff. Thanks for sharing your trip. xox

Linda Vincent said...

You brought back memories.....we took a group of children to Greenwich many years ago and went on the Cutty Sark. Loved the photo of young DH (bless him ;-)
You certainly had an 'historic' visit.
XX

pam said...

Just read both your blogs sounds like you had a great time - wow the Cutty Sark has risen from the ashes - must endeavour to go and see it - years since I went on it.
The Olympic village looks interesting - it will be a hive of activity very soon.

Mrs Mac said...

I'd no idea there was a Titanic memorial there. Thanks for showing us that.

And LMAO!!!!!!!!! re the caption for Mr Julie!!!