Greenwich

Greenwich was a great little day trip from London. It had great history and beautiful architecture. Not only is Greenwich known for having the standard time which all time is calculated throughout the world, but it is also the maritime capital of England.Before we even saw what Greenwich had to offer we had read in our good old guide books that there was a great view off the area across the Thames river. So we entered the tunnel which took us under the river to a lovely park on the other side.

We were definitely not disappointed by the view.
After crossing back under the river, our first stop was the Old Royal Naval College. Interestingly, the college was built in two halves so that the Queen's House (which is right behind it) would keep its river view.

The only two places open to the public at the College are the Painted Hall and the Chapel. The Pained Hall was amazing and it made us feel like we were in a Harry Potter movie.
We are ready for some food!

This was the Chapel. It was also beautiful but we liked the Painted Hall more.
For lunch we stopped at the famous Trafalgar Tavern for some fat chips (french fries) with malt vinegar. Why is the Trafalgar Tavern so famous you may ask. Well, first of all it was Charles Dickens's favorite place to have a drink and second of all...
Good old Admiral Nelson.

The place is pretty much dedicated to him and has pictures all over the wall of him and his wife and his last battle of Trafalgar. This is Sean toasting his water to Admiral Nelson and the great food at Trafalgar Tavern.

From the tavern there was a great view of the Millennium Dome. This hideous building was constructed for the "world's fair" and ushering in the millennium. It is probably the governments biggest building project mistake ever. Londoner's all hate it and no one knows what to do with it now. It has been used as a homeless shelter and currently hosts sporting events. Hopefully this building will see some more action for the 2012 Olympics.
After lunch we went up the block to the Queen's House. The Queen does not really live there any more but it was originally built in 1616 for James I's wife, Anne of Denmark who died before it was complete. Now it serves as an art gallery for the National Maritime Museum. The highlight is the shrine like room dedicated to Admiral Nelson that has a picture of the battle of Trafalgar in it that is so big that they had to open a wall to get it in.
The National Maritime Museum is right beside the Queen's House. The highlights here are original documents from the titanic as well as Admiral Nelson's uniform that he wore when he was killed (complete with blood stains and all).
Next it was up the hill to the Old Royal Observatory. It is located right at the prime meridian and it is where longitude was invented and all time is measured. At 1:00 every day the orange ball in the middle drops so that the sailors on the Thames can all set their clocks to Greenwich standard time.

This is the marker on the prime meridian.

The view from the Observatory was pretty amazing.
That was our day at Greenwich.