Sunday, November 10, 2013

Remarkable Findings of a Tourist in His City of Birth - Down River to Greenwich

It cost me less than £20 to catch a Virgin train to London from Cheshire and no worry about parking and bluebottles.  An oyster card allows a journey on a driverless DLR train to Greenwich nestling south of the River Thames near docklands.

Slow shutter and no driver!


Naturally there is a queue for the Cutty Sark covenience - fancy that.
The Cutty Sark tea clipper now restored and turned into a cafe.  The sleek hull is encased in glass to stop passers by looking at it.
A telephone box often traditionally used as a convenience by Public school boys in ealier times. I thought that these had all disapeared now. This couple (Mother and daughter presumably) have appeared in 3 of my photographs completely by accident - I'm sorry if I'm vicariously stalking them.
The new city - Canary Wharf

What it says on the tin

The Mary Celeste in a bottle outside the National Maritime Museum

0 degrees longitude meridian line

Fishy sun dial at the Royal Observatory
View of Greenwich from the top of the hill where the the Observatory is - to the North is Canary Wharf and immediately below is the National Maritime Museum adjoining the Royal Naval College to the right. 
The meridian again looking due south
Walking through the park we stumble across a comedian giving a guided tour. (Arthur Smith in high viz feathers!)


Not a Freddy Mercury Radio Gaga vehicle but the superb Napier Lion powered Miss Britain 2 in the revamped and rather good National Maritime Museum (admission FREE).
The entrance to the secret foot tunnel to Island Gardens - a friend of mine of old (he is now) pushed his broken down motorcycle through here.  This was naughty - some hoohah about the petrol apparently.
Under the Thames and reasonably dry.
Back on the North Bank - a new to me DLR station
To be concluded....

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for this quick tour, Nikos. It'll give me some inspiration for our next trip to London.

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    1. You are very welcome Sonja, although I intend to post more of the weekend so please keep watching!

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  2. So weird that they incased the Cutty Sark in glass. Is that so people have to pay to get up close and personal with it?

    It looks like a nice place to wander. I enjoyed the photos Nikos.

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  3. Nikos, great photos, and thanks for the tour - being a typical East end boy I've never ventured south of the river to visit Greenwich - you've whetted my appetite.

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  4. Laahndon, ahhh, memories!

    Napiers were able to soup up the old Lion to 1,350hp?? Mind boggling. (But "Miss Britain III", surely). The bloke who drove that thing, Hubert Scott-Paine, broke a few records and derserves to be better known.

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    Replies
    1. Quite correct, "3" - I was seduced by the alclad body and brown padded leather cockpit combing.

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    2. and PS

      The souped up W configuration Lion probably (in best Napier tradition) produced the immense power for a short period of time before self destructing.

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