Again we get up when we wake up, grab the backpacker's breakfast and head to the train station. We are off to Greenwich to check out the prime median of the world. The observatory in Greenwich park has been used to determine longitude and map the stars. We are fascinated with the search undertaken to properly determine longitude and a suitable time mechanism in order for sailors to get their location back in the 1600s. A pendulum clock did not keep constant on the moving ship and as such a reward of 20,000 pounds was offered to anyone who could come up with a timekeeping device that kept constant and could be used on ships. This was one of Mike's highlights. Being a surveyor he is constantly working with latitude and longitude co-ordinates (bearings) and this information was the history of what a large part of the surveying industry is founded on. We could spend a whole day looking around and studying everything in detail, but we have not yet been through Tower Bridge and leave around 1pm (via O
ne Tree Hill... which actually has a tree!) in order to get there. Oh we must mention that we grabbed some pret on the way through for lunch (thinking of you Marc & Char!). Tower Bridge was fascinating as it took years to even agree on a design. The issue being that that part of the Thames was the harbour or the main port where all the big ships had to pass through. The bridge had to be designed to allow the large ships into the basin in order not to disrupt the ports. Finally the tower bridge design was agreed on today's design. It still took another 8 years to build. Today it opens up for ships with 24 hours notice. We did not see this happen on our trip. The day was a little squashed because we had booked tickets to Thriller the stage show matinee which started at 4pm. Our seats were not so good meaning we had a slightly blocked view, but the atmosphere and show were amazing. The show is designed to credit Michael and his career and the singers do not try to be him. There is even a young Michael and he is pretty cool! Shona loved how they repeated the mowtown performance of Billie Jean with the costume and all the moves, including
the moonwalk at the right time! With songs such as Bad, Thriller and Man in the Mirror running through our heads we head out to the craziness that is Piccadilly Circus. The footpath really is not wide enough for the number of pedestrians. Even though it is raining we decide to walk back to the hostel. A great decision because we remember that we haven't yet played Pooh Sticks on London Bridge. 3, 2, 1 we through our sticks into the Thames then hotfooted it over the barrier between the footpath and the road, across the 3 lanes of traffic in each direction and back over the other barrier on the other side. We look over the bridge and 15 seconds later our sticks came floating past! It's our last night in London and we realise that there is plenty more to see. But you can't do everything all the time, so we have saved some sight seeing for next time.
Again we get up when we wake up, grab the backpacker's breakfast and head to the train station. We are off to Greenwich to check out the prime median of the world. The observatory in Greenwich park has been used to determine longitude and map the stars. We are fascinated with the search undertaken to properly determine longitude and a suitable time mechanism in order for sailors to get their location back in the 1600s. A pendulum clock did not keep constant on the moving ship and as such a reward of 20,000 pounds was offered to anyone who could come up with a timekeeping device that kept constant and could be used on ships. This was one of Mike's highlights. Being a surveyor he is constantly working with latitude and longitude co-ordinates (bearings) and this information was the history of what a large part of the surveying industry is founded on. We could spend a whole day looking around and studying everything in detail, but we have not yet been through Tower Bridge and leave around 1pm (via O
ne Tree Hill... which actually has a tree!) in order to get there. Oh we must mention that we grabbed some pret on the way through for lunch (thinking of you Marc & Char!). Tower Bridge was fascinating as it took years to even agree on a design. The issue being that that part of the Thames was the harbour or the main port where all the big ships had to pass through. The bridge had to be designed to allow the large ships into the basin in order not to disrupt the ports. Finally the tower bridge design was agreed on today's design. It still took another 8 years to build. Today it opens up for ships with 24 hours notice. We did not see this happen on our trip. The day was a little squashed because we had booked tickets to Thriller the stage show matinee which started at 4pm. Our seats were not so good meaning we had a slightly blocked view, but the atmosphere and show were amazing. The show is designed to credit Michael and his career and the singers do not try to be him. There is even a young Michael and he is pretty cool! Shona loved how they repeated the mowtown performance of Billie Jean with the costume and all the moves, including 
the moonwalk at the right time! With songs such as Bad, Thriller and Man in the Mirror running through our heads we head out to the craziness that is Piccadilly Circus. The footpath really is not wide enough for the number of pedestrians. Even though it is raining we decide to walk back to the hostel. A great decision because we remember that we haven't yet played Pooh Sticks on London Bridge. 3, 2, 1 we through our sticks into the Thames then hotfooted it over the barrier between the footpath and the road, across the 3 lanes of traffic in each direction and back over the other barrier on the other side. We look over the bridge and 15 seconds later our sticks came floating past! It's our last night in London and we realise that there is plenty more to see. But you can't do everything all the time, so we have saved some sight seeing for next time.
.JPG)
Woo hoo - go the poohsticks!
ReplyDeleteCool. :p
ReplyDelete