Day 3 – Greenwich and the Prime Meridian

We took the tube to the high speed commuter Catamaran and rode that down the Thames to Greenwich, passing under the Tower Bridge. Upon our arrival in Greenwich we toured the National Maritime Museum; it has some really nice displays but it was packed with nannies and prams. 

From there we walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory and the prime meridian. As all tourists must do, we stood with one foot in the east and one in the west. The Observatory is laid out for touring through the complexities of accurate timekeeping for determining longitude. We saw several of the early chronometers and timepieces that were real accomplishments for their time, making accurate navigation possible.

 

 We then strolled back into town and found a pub where we had Bangers and Mash for dinner. Both Chuck and I thought is was an awesome meal. And people say you don't come to England for the food...

The weather so far has been cold enough to require a sweat shirt most of the time. It chooses to rain sporadically and seems like so far we have been indoors when it does.

We headed back under the river by elevated rail (?) and switched to the tube, ending up with our luggage at Paddington Station for the train trip out to Oxford. It was too crowded in the station to get a photo of Paddington Bear but his statue is there. This station is huge with tons of platforms; luckily we didn't lose Bob. To Chuck's delight the Great Western Paddington Station Band was playing on the platform and we stood and listened to them for awhile (Chuck's note: standing behind the band, I saw the euphonium player get the conductor's “evil eye” for a missed entrance. I unfortunately recognized that look from experience!) The train to Oxford was quick and efficient and Jackie was there to meet us on the platform when we arrived. At Trinity College of Oxford University, where Jackie is directing Georgetown University's summer program, we settled into our room on stairway 6. Jackie and Bob came into our room and we all sat there and visited until midnight.