Miia invited me to spend my last day in London with her in Greenwich. Since she invited me towards the end of my leaving do on St. Patty’s day, there was a chance I wouldn’t remember the invite. But I did and looked forward to it. After my manicure and pedicure had dried, I left to meet Miia and Teemu at the South Kensington Station.
From South Kensington, we headed to Tower to get on the Docklands Light Rail. Turns out Greenwich is IN LONDON. In the city. Huh? Zone 2? Really? I always thought it was out near Brighton, but no, it was in Zone 2. Foolish me. Walking from the Tower station, I noticed a little thing called the Tower of London. The Tower of London had evaded me for five months and finally on my last day, I ran into outside of a tube station in Zone 1. Wow.
The Docklands Light Rail takes you from the Tower of London through Canary Wharf and to the Cutty Sark and Greenwhich. We got off two stops early and walked UNDER the Thames river. Under, yes, under the Thames in an old service tunnel. Don’t worry, it is open to the public. You leave the tunnel and are staning in front of the Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark is more than a brand of whisky, it is the oldest surviving Tea Clipper from the Tea Trade. It is massive for a wooden ship, quite impressive.
From the Cutty Sark, we joined other British families and walked up a very steep hill to the Greenwich observatory. Yep, this is the home of Greenwich Mean Time. Maybe you’ve heard of it, a little thing called, the start of times zones and stuff. The museum and observatory is filled with clocks, watches, chronotographers, and other mechanical brass things.
You take clocks, clockworks, longitude, and navigation for granted. I have never considered how long it took so many inventors to design a clock, let alone a watch. Clocks that kept time on a boat, because you needed the proper time to follow the stars.
I stood in two time zones and watched a couple kiss across two time zones. They were much cuter than me, but I’ll forgive them. Then it was back to Greenwich for chips and a pint and a trip to the market. Then we were back on the tube and headed home.
I said goodbye to Miia and Teemu on the Circle line at Sloane Square and headed to my last dinner in London.