A cold day in front of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament to the rest of us)
Even by this time of the morning the queues at the London Eye were beginning to mount but luckily we had our Merlin passes which we had purchased earlier this year (allows unlimited entry into a number of UK attractions). After flashing our passes we made a rock star entrance simply walking past the queues and straight on board the next pod. It was a perfect day on the Eye with barely a cloud in the sky. The views were fantastic and even Zac, who is a tad afraid of heights, agreed that it was well worth it. (would have been great if we had remembered to use the binoculars I carried all day in my bag!)
The street between the buildings is Downing Street
We noted from our vantage point that the Aquarium was located just a short distance away and remembered that our Merlin passes also granted us access here. Once again it was simply a matter of queue jumping and it was off to the Aquarium with us. Given the length of Abbey’s attention span with each tank we were glad we had not paid entry. The Aquarium was really well laid out and we got our first look at piranhas and upside down jelly fish. Zac’s favourites were the sharks, naturally, whilst Abbey preferred to look for Nemo.
After a quick lunch at a near by McDonald’s we headed off for our river boat cruise. Having noticed you could buy tickets near where we ate lunch we somehow managed to queue jump all the rest of the crowds who were still attempting to purchase their’s at the boat harbour. It was immediate boarding for the Robbs which was just as well as the boat left soon after. With the weather still fantastic, if a little chilly, we sat on the uppers and took in the sights on the way to Greenwich. Whilst City Cruises don’t get paid to put on commentary, a member of staff spoke to the crowd the length of the journey which was fabulous as I knew very little about much of the the sights past the Tower Bridge. Zac’s favourite was the Devil’s Inn and the place used as a burial for plague victims.
The small black building is the pub where Charles DIckens wrote a number of his stories including Oliver Twist
Onwards to Greenwich and a boy’s (well Nathan’s at least) own paradise. We trudged up the hill to visit the Observatory and stand astride the Meridian Line. Also on display, and even I had to admit they were impressive, were Harrison’s Clocks.
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age of Sail. The problem was considered so intractable that the British Parliament offered a prize of £20,000 (comparable to £2.87 million / $4.72 million in modern currency) for the solution.
The view from Greenwich towards Canary Wharf
From the Observatory it was a short downhill walk to the Maritime Museum and, to Zac’s delight, the home of the jacket worn by Nelson at the time of his fatal shooting. Abbey and I ducked in to take a look at this and then spent a lovely hour soaking up the sunshine letting the boys get on with being boys.
Abbey again deciding that colouring was more fun - I see a theme developing
The boat ride back to Westminster was equally as entertaining and they even stopped the boat so we could hear Big Ben strike 5 O’clock. Zac is still laughing at the idea that instead of being named Benjamin, the maker of the clock was actually called Richard. By this stage we were all quite weary so fortunately had no issues catching a bus back to Queensway. We introduced Zac to Lebanese food for dinner and while a bit nervous at first he ended up loving it. Abbey sat there demolishing a pile of olives quite happily.
Definitely going to go on the Eye. Knew there was an Abbey and a Cathedral because of Agatha Christie!
ReplyDelete