A visit to Greenwich

We decided to walk to Greenwich, a distance of 6.5 miles (10.5 kms). We would see some sights along the way, and it was another beautiful day. We have managed to bring the Mexican sunshine with us everywhere we have been since leaving Mexico!

Plus, this route would allow us to use the foot tunnel underneath the River Thames...

Yesterday's walk...we DID take the train back home afterwards.

Part of the walk brought us through Victoria Park. These mounted policemen seemed to be enjoying the weather as well.

Ruth and the gardens in Victoria Park.

Saw this interesting sign along the way. It turns out that many "flying" bombs landed on London towards the end of the second world war. These bombs were actually the precursor to today's guided missiles, and Germany had them pretty well figured out towards the end of the war.

The Canary Wharf project was actually built by a Canadian company called Olympia & York developments. It's quite far from actual "downtown" and from a distance it appears that London has two different skylines of tall buildings. The name of the taller building is actually One Canada Square.

We made it down to the river and walked quite a way along the Thames footpath to the underground tunnel. This tunnel was finished in 1902 and is over 1,200 ft long and is 50 feet under the River Thames.

This is actually one section that was repaired from damage incurred during World War II.

The tunnel exists on the Greenwich side at the famous sailing ship, the Cutty Sark.

The Cutty Sark. You could write a whole post about this ship, but essentially it's been restored so many times that you could argue it's not even the real ship. It was severely damaged by fire in 2007, and only recently re-opened to the public...at a cost of £40 million! Yes, it costs £12.00 to visit. No, we didn't!

But we did go visit a couple of select areas of the old Royal Naval College. Some of the buildings are magnificent to see, and it's free!

Part of the old Royal Naval College.

Inside the Painted Hall!

Looking up at the ceiling at the entrance way to the Painted Hall.

You can rent the great hall for your wedding or event. What a neat place!

London is very flat, but there is one hill in Greenwich that affords a nice view of the city.

The Olympic equestrian events are being held at Greenwich. They have a LOT of work to do to get the arena ready in a month!

Standing on the Prime Meridian at zero degrees longitude. With one foot east, and one foot west. You've heard the term "Greenwich Mean Time"? This is where it is.

We took the train back home. It was a really nice day, but we have to save our walking power because guess what? We're walking again today! This is our last full day in London and we're excited about heading up to the city of Leeds tomorrow. Four and a half hour bus ride Thursday afternoon!