I talk a lot about England in this blog, as I have been a few times. So this trip I won’t go into quite as many details, but I will talk a bit about the special things I did this time. I flew to London in the summer of 2018 for a cousins wedding. That part of the trip was just wonderful, as I got to see family from all over that came for the day, it was really special and unique. Most of that part of the trip won’t be interesting so I’ll gloss over that part.
I flew into London on a Wednesday morning. I was staying at the Devonport Hotel in Greenwich. It was a very interesting hotel which is also part of the University of Greenwich now. It was a large mansion, that in later years also was the nurses residence for the Naval Hospital. The hotel is situated right beside the Naval Museum, the Greenwich park and Greenwich palace. It also has an old cemetery on the grounds that includes monuments from the time of Lord Nelson’s engagements.
Greenwich is an amazing part of London, the old Greenwich Palace is now part of the University of London, was once part of the Royal Naval College. While there has been a royal palace on the site for centuries, not much remains. It was called the Palace of Placentia in the days of the Tudors. On the hill behind the palace is the Greenwich Observatory, which is where Greenwich Mean Time started. One of the original places to think of standardizing time. There are also many telescopes and examples of early astronomers there. As well there is a line demarking the Prime Meridian, which isn’t exactly 0° anymore, but that was one of the first places it was discussed.
On my first day in London, I arrived about mid day and was exhausted from the overnight flight. I was able to drop my bags at the hotel and push through. I started by exploring Greenwich Palace and had been told by family there was a restoration happening in the Painted Hall. For a bit extra one could take a tour of the restoration work. I was a little reluctant, but I am glad I listened to my uncle who pushed for it.
This was an opportunity of a life time I think. The ceiling of the hall had been done in the era of William and Mary II. The entire ceiling and all of the walls were painted in beautiful and complicated designs. As part of the restoration, a scaffolding had been build to just about 7 or 8 feet below the ceiling so the tour went right up close to see the art and the restorers at work. Some of the design was done with different perspectives, so seeing them up close was remarkable.
I explored a bit of the grounds of Greenwich Palace next, it is a beautiful building that is featured in plenty of movies from era pieces to elves blowing in up in a Marvel Thor movie. As it sits along the Thames it was also an excellent place to have a gin and tonic and enjoy the summer sunshine. While I was walking along the river I noticed a funny little hut by itself. It turned out to be the entry way to a pedestrian tunnel that runs under the Thames. It opened in 1902 so workers could more easily access the Isle of the Dogs and the docks on the north side of the river. It was closed during WWII as it was damaged during the Blitz and become unsafe due to threat of collapse. It is open now and still a popular access point - but check the website before going. It is a long way down and if either elevator is not operational you might have a lot of stairs in your future. Especially if one is just going across for a peak!
I had an early night that night, I wanted to be rested and ready for the next day as I was doing a guided tour that included seeing Stonehenge and other neolithic monuments near by. I had chosen a tour guided by an archeologist and I was excited to learn more about the history of England.
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