Here and There

Scott and Jackie's Travels – Thousand Trails Reviews, Campground Reviews, Fulltime RVing, European Travel

Tag: Greenwich

London/Paris 2011 trip report–part 8

grscott

For Sunday our intention was to take a breather from sightseeing and make it a day of worship and rest.  We started our day at Westminster Abbey at their 10:00 worship service.  We got there just after they closed entry to the part of the church where the main service was taking place and ended up sitting in the “Nave” with 20 or so other people.  We could see through into the service well enough to see the men and boy’s choir as well as see the clergyman as he delivered a Sunday sermon.  Also, the organ was beautiful.  Every inch of the church has statues, etc. but we were able to focus on worship.  There’s something powerful about stating the Apostle’s Creed in the place where it has been said for over 1000 years.  Also, the singing of the Lord’s Prayer was deeply moving.  The sermon was quite good and we came away feeling we had genuinely worshiped.  To keep tourists from coming to church just to keep from paying a tour fee they have a strict “no pictures” policy on Sundays.  It’s quite understandable but we wish we had been able to take at least a couple of photos to help us remember the meaningful worship service.

For lunch we headed over to Greenwich market.  However, the crowds were so large that we walked though just to see what the food and other venders had and then, out on the street we spotted a real English Fish and Chips restaurant.  We split a meal and had food left over!  We walked over the the Maritime Museum that we visited the day we arrived.  At that time we were sleep deprived that we only saw a small part of it.  Today we saw a bit more before making the short jump back to Canary Wharf.

This area of London is considered to be the “Wall Street” of London with skyscrapers and lots of people in suits hurrying around.  The tube and the DLR or “light rail” intersect here as well as public transport via the river Thames.  Our 7 or 8 minute walk to public transportation takes us across a nifty bridge and into a large shopping mall surrounded by office buildings.  We’re taking it easy through the afternoon here at the half way mark of our trip.

 

London/Paris 2011 trip report–part 2

grscott

After a red eye flight from Houston to London we arrived in London tired, but energized by “trip adrenalin”.”  Traveling by the London Tube is a great way to get around and we bought an Oyster Card for travel around London this first day and then for the later parts of our trip.  It’s like a debit card for public transportation – easy to use and charges fares around half of what they would if by individual tickets.
However, we also bought a London 7 day Travel Card from a rail station to use starting Tuesday.  The cost of the card is about the same as using an Oyster card, but it has a great feature – there’s a 2 for 1 promotional for holders of the rail Travel Card.  Many of the big London attractions participate.  With the Travel Card we get unlimited tube/rail/bus transportation in London and the 2 for 1 deals.  So, starting on Tuesday we’ll be on the pass.

Again, we knew we’d be pretty tired from the flight and time difference so we planned a fairly easy day that included lots of outside activities.  For us that meant hopping the light rail and going to nearby Greenwich to visit the London Royal Observatory and then the the Maritime Museum.  The Royal Observatory is the home of “Greenwich Mean time” – these days called UTC.  The Maritime Museum is right there, and it takes you through nautical history.  Frankly, we were running on fumes at the museum and only saw a fraction of it.  However, we may go back before this trip is over.

We walked around Greenwich a bit, then headed back to the huge mall near our Canary Wharf Apartment to grab a few supplies before limping to the apartment to try to stay awake till 7 or 8 local time.