Greenwich Tour

The cable car from south to north London across the Thames.

My personal guide.

The O2 Centre.

The old cranes of the dockyards, and the new cranes of building.

The tourist.

The Cutty Sark, the fastest tea schooner.

The officer's lounge.

Last year: Shackleton in the Antarctic...

This year Franklin in the Arctic, some of the artifacts from the discovered ship.

Pam meets us in the pub.

From their balcony.

Wednesday, May 24^th.

Bruce and I left for a tour of Greenwich at 10. He had made up the whole itinerary. First, we got on the iconic red double decker bus and then a train to the O2 Arena. It was originally constructed as a temporary structure called the Millennium Dome, but it got repurposed as a multipurpose arena including concerts because it has excellent acoustics. As we were approaching it two of London’s finest stopped us to say hello. We found out they were just doing community awareness and visibility, but we had a great talk with them. They were interested in Canada and one of them was from South Africa, so he was interested in our trip. We talked to them for about ten minutes before they moved on. Then we took the cable car that takes people from south London to north London across the Thames. It was a very comfortable, relaxed ride with plenty of views including some of the old dockyard areas. I also saw a cable wakeboarding site like the one in Florida. Then we walked across a bridge where we could see planes taking off from the London city airport fly directly over our heads. We continued our walk to the next spot- the Docklands Museum. This was housed in some of the original dockyard warehouses. It was a free museum that Bruce had been to many times before, so he had a coffee while I explored. London has been a major trade city since the Roman times. There is a lot of history here involving all the things that came through this port from timber, grain, tea, sugar and sugar cane, slaves, cotton… there was a panel explaining the animal trade in things like beaver pelts, tiger skins and elephant tusks. During the blitz of the Second World War Germany bombed the dockyards heavily but never managed to full stop the trade and supply chain of the Allies. With the advent of container ships in the 60’s the Docklands and all their cranes fell into disuse as the ships couldn’t come that far up the river. Today some of the cranes are used as b’n’b’s. Then we walked to Canary Wharf and to the train to take us to Greenwich. We went to the Cutty Sark Museum where again Bruce had a drink, and I went through the three decks of the ship. It was the fastest schooner in the world in its time. It was only replaced when steam engines drove ships. It was used to carry tea from India to Britain at the height of the tea trade. The first ship to reach London with the new fresh crop every year would receive a higher price for its cargo, so fast was a huge benefit. We tried to go to St. Alfeges Church where General Wolfe’s crypt is but it was closed for a private function. Then we went to the Maritime Museum where we wanted to see the Poles Exhibits. There they had some artifacts and information on Shackleton who we learned about on our Antarctic voyage and Franklin who we will learn more about on our upcoming Arctic voyage. His two ships the Erebus and the Terror have recently discovered where they sunk in the Canadian high Arctic. That was a fitting end to our tour and my trip. We went to a local pub by the Greenwich Market and enjoyed a couple of beer while waiting for Pam to join us. Then we went to Billy’s Restaurant, and I treated them to a good meal. Then back to their place to watch a bit more of that show and go to bed. All that is left is to fly home tomorrow. That's it for now, I'll be home enjoying the summer until August when I will be sailing to Alaska and then joining John and Bruce as we sail through the Northwest Passage in reverse. So, stay tuned!