Day Three in London: On the Trail of Lovers and Sailors

For those of you that have already figured this out, yes this picture is from our trip to Greenwich yesterday. I just happen to like it and since I can take some liberties with authorship I am leading off with it today. This is a 24 hour clock so the time was actually 15:52:35 and not what you may think as several minutes before 8:00. The time is also very accurately kept and adjusted by the movement of stars transiting the prime meridian—very cool if you are a math, celestial geek (like some of us).

In addition, I didn’t get to use the following picture from the Royal Observatory yesterday so I am putting it in here…because again, I like it.

Day Three: We were a little more ambitious today and got up and showered in time to head out and meet Sarah near the Northwick Park Underground Station at 9 am. Today the trains were all running so it made travel quite a bit easier.

We boarded at Northwick Park and travelled in to the Baker Street Station. This seemed like a good spot to get off and start our days adventure, particularly since there are several coffee houses in the area so we were able to stop in for a latte, a mocha, and some juice. Since we were having something to drink it also made sense to have some butter croissants and a triple chocolate muffin to absorb some of the liquid. Also since it was a nice morning, by New England standards, we decided to eat al fresco along the sidewalk. What you don’t see in the picture is the two work vans and compressor that set up right next to us and the workmen that began jack hammering to uncover some under-sidewalk piping. It was entertaining and the noise only lasted a short period, but it was certainly not done following any measures that OSHA would approve.

We headed out from our breakfast to find a shop in the Baker Street area that specializes in single malt scotches. After a short walk we found the shop and suffice it to say that I could have spent several hours in there talking with the owner. In addition, as any sailor knows the sun was over the yardarm someplace so when the owner offered me a taste (at 11 am) I was not one to shy away—plus as Cheri and Sarah pointed out, I am on vacation. The result was a setting aside of a couple of bottles and I will fill in more about them after I pick the bottles up later this week.

From there we started some more walking and after multiple turns and street we came to Piccadilly Circus and the fountain statue or Eros—this is the lovers part. I attempted to do a panoramic shot around the Circus to capture the Times Square type of feel, but I don’t have the correct software.

We did take advantage of the time to sit for a few minutes and to get some quick photos of the band of adventurers.

Since I can’t do the panorama right now, here is a collage of the area that may give you a little feel for it.

From Piccadilly Circus and Eros we moved on to Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelson—this is another part of the sailor thing, besides the whole sun over the yardarm piece. Trafalgar Square has several fountains, so the photographer in tow with us offered to get a picture of Cheri and I. She also made sure to get some of the fountain in the picture to show that we are actually in the square.

The square is also home to the National Gallery so we took the opportunity to tour through there for a couple of hours as well. We plan to go back tomorrow and join a tour group so we get the full effect of the Gallery.

Next it was on to the Tube and over to the South Side of the Thames. This is an area that was once famous for bars, brothels, theaters, and, of course, sailors. Our trip was taking us to the area of the original Globe Theater. The original theater was taken down in Puritan times but a very close facsimile has been constructed within 300 feet of the original and there are now performances between April and October. They have a great tour that Cheri and I took (Sarah is fighting a cold and headed back home early to get some rest), and I think we will try to make it to a performance when we come back in September.

We then headed down towards Waterloo Station to find a yarn shop that Cheri had heard about on-line. Along the way we stopped at the Millennium Bridge and took some picture of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the riverfront and ourselves.

It was then back onto the Tube and off to Harrow. We need to rest up for another day of walking and adventures tomorrow.