The Great Beyond

The firetrucks down our street. 

    That dramatic title has to do with our trip to Greenwich. This morning we woke up and saw that apparently there was a fire down the street, which was concerning, but the firetrucks where there and everything seemed to be fine. After that we took the Tube to Westminster. Coming out of the Tube station we saw Parliament and Big Ben for the first time, which caused lots of excitement. Then we boarded a boat for a boat trip down the Thames. We saw so many excellent buildings and sites, including the Tower of London and London's ugliest building according to Prince Charles, the National Theater. The boat brought us to Greenwich were we broke up into smaller groups and got a guided tour by a nice old woman. After that we went to have lunch in the adorable Greenwich Market, where I got a crepe with nutella and banana for lunch. Then we took the tunnel under the river to the Island Garden Tube stop and took the DLR(which is above ground). Now that we are back, we are taking a nice break. I am keeping this short so that I can put up lots of pictures. I will most likely post again later as we are thinking about taking a walk through Hyde Park and perhaps going to Piccadilly Circus later. Cheerio for now!

London Bridge, obviously. We went under it.

The London Eye and the aquarium.

Taylor and Melissa

Sherri, Rebecca, Jo, and Dennis

The Globe(recreated); where Shakespeare performed

Sarah and Angelica

Parliament and Big Ben!

The Cutty Sark in Greenwich

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Greenwich Market

Theater built for one of the queen's. The green area in front was where the Tudor palace once stood. 

The 'new palace' which was converted into a hospital for disabled sailors by Queen Mary II

King William IV, uncle of Queen Victoria. William had no legitimate children, which is why Victoria took the throne. He is not that well known, but do not feel sorry for him, he had a great naval career and eleven illegitimate children by his mistresses, Dorothea Bland. His real wife bore him two children but neither survived into adulthood.

Greenwich Church. It is said that when the vikings stopped on their way to London from Canterbury, they dined at this spot. There hostage was the Archbishop of Canterbury and died trying to preach Christianity to them, and the altar was built over the spot where he died. 

This is not a part of the church. This is the dining area of the hospital that Mary II built. The sailors, who had lived a hard life refused to dine in such a fantastically beautiful place and instead choose to dine in the basement. The ceiling was painted by the same man who painted St. Paul's Cathedral.