We’ve now got into a cadence where we explore a new area in London one day a week. Because transportation in London is super-expensive (especially since we are a family of four), we like to thoroughly deep-dive making it a day trip.
One sunny day, we decided on Greenwich. It’s rather an odd choice since it’s so far from where we live, but I had this odd wish to see the prime meridian, which separates the eastern and western hemispheres of our planet. And since we were going all that way, we decided to club together a number of other attractions – the Queen’s House, the National Maritime Museum, Cutty Sark, and end it all with a boat tour across the Thames down to Westminster.
It sounds a bit ambitious, and it is – but we still managed a good amount of it within a brisk half day walk (probably too brisk as Snubnose ended up spraining her ankle 😔).
We started with taking the train to Canary Wharf. We got down there solely to admire the amazing Crossrail Place indoor park – amazing garden with all sorts of tropical trees (papayas, bananas, and more) growing. Other than this, Canary Wharf is a huge bunch of random high-rises. But what I love about the place, is the efforts taken to make sure there is enough sunlight and green spaces in the midst of the urban jungle.
After a brisk stroll around the place, we took the DLR (lightrail) to Greenwich. Riding the DLR itself is an experience, as you get to see some lovely views of all the different quays in the area.
Getting off at Greenwich, we were immediately overwhelmed by the number of tourists. It’s peak tourist season. We knew what we were doing, though. We went to the nearby Tesco, picked up meal deals for all of us, and headed to Greenwich Park.
Greenwich Park is massive and full of picnickers. To work up an appetite, we walked all the way through the park to the observatory. Took a couple of corny (so corny, I’m not going to share here) pics with the Prime Meridian, then went to find a nice picnic spot where we could eat and enjoy the view.
And what a view!
I absolutely fell in love with the combination of the historical buildings in the foreground with the modern ones (Canary Wharf) in the background. Up front is the Queen’s House (Elizabeth I used to live there sometimes), and the National Maritime Museum.
Of course, we had to take a picture of ourselves as well, somewhat spoiling the view 😬.
Tummies full, we proceeded on to the Queen’s House (free entry), and then walked around the very beautiful but homely place admiring the paintings and the architecture of the house.
The columns of the house are beautiful.
The supposed highlight of this place is the Tulip Stairs.
I have to say I admired the work on the railing, but to my eye, it looked a bit over-hyped. Yes, it’s pretty, but not all that. Anyway, I saw others taking pics, and so I did too, and I have to say it looks really lovely in photos. Still, I think I liked the columns a bit better.
Next, it was off to the National Maritime Museum, which was a bit of a scramble as we wanted to make it before closing time. We ended up having a good one hour to walk through the place.
I honestly didn’t expect to spend longer, but the museum is surprisingly fascinating. I loved all the various rooms and exhibits. There is a pirates exhibit that is paid for, but the rest of the museum is free. I fully nerded out here, completely boring my daughter and husband with fun facts.
Happily, my son shared my enthusiasm as I waxed on about the Endurance and the Endeavour, pointing out all the exhibits. I was just getting started on Nelson’s defeat of the French at Trafalgar, when I think my daughter had had enough. Eyes glazed, she tripped on a stair and sprained her ankle – all her years of practicing ballet have made her prone to ankle sprains. It isn’t serious, but she needs to rest it up for a few days.
We didn’t take many pictures of the exhibits, but one we did take was this glorious stained glass panel.
Anyway, if you are enthusiastic about British naval and exploration history, this museum is a little gem, and I highly recommend it.
From the museum, we limped our way to the river banks. Although she was in a bit of pain, she was determined to do the river cruise, and it wasn’t a long walk to the dock, and anyway, we would have to walk back to the train station, so off we went to the docks. Got tickets on the last boat, and proceeded to have a lovely evening enjoying the views of the city from the river.
Warning, photo dump ahead.
At the docks is the Cutty Sark – one of the fastest boats of its time, and now a tourist attraction. We took a quick pic in front of it and rushed to our boat just in time for the last boat ride.
For the boat ride, you can book tickets on an Uber boat (which is a regular boat taxi), or you can do the River Cruise, which has an upstairs deck. We booked the cruise all the way to Westminster, to get the full tourist experience, and I think it’s totally worth it. Most people get off at Tower Bridge, but I think the views of Westminster from the boat are worth doing the trip all the way.
The Shard is so glorious, I think it deserves a picture on it’s own.
One by one, we passed under all the bridges – the Tower Bridge of course being the most majestic of them all. There are too many pics of the family in front of Tower Bridge, but I”ll spare you all and just post this one.
We eventually came up to Westminster, and the views of Big Ben, and this was the favorite part of the boat ride for me. The views are magnificent.
Again, we took tons of photos of ourselves against the background.
I think it’s fairly obvious we were quite enamoured of the structure 😂.
We were also quite tired though, so we made our way quietly to the tube station. By now, Snubnose was limping noticeably, and we were eager to get back home and put some ice and rest up her ankle.
