Greenwich and London

In the morning we took the train to Greenwich.

The station where we got off was named after the first sight we saw: Cutty Sark. The tea clipper was originally used for the fast transport of tea from India to England, until it became uneconomical due to the faster steamships and the Suez Canal.

A few steps further is the Old Royal Naval College, which today houses parts of the University of Greenwich.

After a tour of the university grounds, we visited the “Queen’s House,” which once served as a royal pleasure palace.

Today, it mainly features paintings that are open to the public.

After a small incline, we then reached the Royal Observatory.

It is London’s only planetarium, known mainly for the prime meridian and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

At 1 PM, we watched the daily drop of the “Time Ball,” which used to indicate the exact time to ships.

Only with precise clocks set to the time at home was accurate and thus safe navigation on the world’s oceans possible.

Inside the observatory, an exhibition informed about the development of measuring instruments for determining longitude and the lives of royal astronomers.

From Greenwich, we took the boat back to the center.

We passed many famous sights along the Thames, until we finally arrived at the House of Parliament.

We pushed through the crowds standing on the street to photograph the clock tower of Big Ben, in order to arrive in time before the closing time at the Jewel Tower.

The Jewel Tower was part of the original palace and was built around 1365 to house King Edward III's treasures.

It is one of the two buildings of the medieval Palace of Westminster that survived the fire of 1834.
The exhibition inside was modern but brief, and we were also disappointed by the lack of a beautiful view of the Houses of Parliament because one could not climb all the way to the top.

Afterwards, we walked along the Thames, past the London Eye.

After dinner near Covent Garden, we arrived at Leicester Square.

Here, statues of various film characters are gathered, inviting for photographs.

Not far from there was the musical we were watching that evening: “The Book of Mormon,” a satirical depiction of the first missionary efforts of two young Mormons.