While Allegra and Grandma Price were off to Chawton, Grandpa Price, Pop-Pop, Mom, Dad, and I braved the typical London fog and headed to Greenwich to see the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. We headed to the London Bridge station and caught the overground train for a quick 7min ride to Greenwich.
After walking a bit (including some extra since we left the backside of the station), we found the site’s park and the hill on which the observatory sits. After a steep climb, we found ourselves staring through the thick fog at the world-famous red Time Ball, made all the more special after a couple of the readings from my last class, such as this book.
After copious exploration of the Flamsteed House’s Time Galleries, with its old clocks, new clocks, and everything in between, including Harrison’s first four maritime clocks, as well as astrolabes, telescopes, sundials, and sextants, we found ourselves standing on the Prime Meridian Line—Longitude 0°.
I’m in the West and Pop-Pop is in the East.
The Maritime Museum was also a blast. We saw more timepieces and astronomical equipment, as well as many models of historic British boats, old maps, a rocket boat and paddle boat engine, some politically-neutral items about the American Revolution, artifacts discovered during British explorations, items from Sir John Franklin’s disastrous Arctic expedition, and the Nelson Room, which contained the coat he was wearing when he was shot during the Battle of Trafalgar.
All in all, it was a wonderful day. Mom, Dad, and Pop-pop headed off earlier to the underground Churchill War Museum, while Grandpa Price and I spent a long time in the two museums. Afterward, the two of us headed back to the hotel and to a pub for a couple of pints of delicious UK beer.