I Stood In Two Hemispheres At Once (Day 30)

Today was a LARGE improvement on yesterday's boring-ness. :)

We left around 9:30 as a group for our day trip to Greenwich (pronounced "Gren-itch"). We traveled by a different means than normal today and took the ferry from Westminster Pier down the Thames to Greenwich. It was hot out, but the ride was way cool.

Tower of London from the Ferry

Tower Bridge from the Ferry

Ferry pictures Ferry pictures

For those of you who are uneducated and uncivilized and don't know anything about Greenwich, here is a crash course: Greenwich is actually a part of London, but it is kind of isolated and a bit away from the main section of the city. There are a lot of cool historical things there and also a lot of really well-known movies have been filmed there. (Examples: Les Miserables, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sense and Sensibility, The Avengers, National Treasure 2, Sherlock Holmes AND MORE).

Watch Les Mis and understand

Yeah they filmed Les Mis here.. I died <3

We had a huge chunk of the day in Greenwich to explore on our own, so Kindal, Kim and I did a whirlwind walking tour to see if we could find exciting things to do. We succeeded.

First we went to the Royal Naval College..Discovery Center. Like for children. But we played with all the interactive things and dressed up in child-size costumes (because let's be honest they totally fit Kindal and I anyway).

Then we did historical things like visited the Painted Hall and the Queen's House (which actually had this terrifying, dark room with baby dolls that felt a tiny bit like a sacrificial room and I am still not totally sure what that was about..)

Painted Hall

Kim and the Queen's House

I bought a cute folding accordion book with the London Royal Palaces because it was cute and don't judge me.

Then we made a stop at the National Maritime Museum because we were starving and they had a cafe... so no, we didn't actually see any of the exhibits... but DANG those Chips (again Americans, remember, FRIES) were good.

Maritime Museum

In the middle of our lunch break, it started dumping rain outside, so naturally we thought that that would be the best time to make the hike uphill to the Royal Observatory. And based on the rules of nature, we got soaked to the bone, but laughed so hard we had to stop and remember how to breathe.

The Queen's House during the storm

I love Kindal. And this picture.

The Royal Observatory was super cool and science-y and all that rad stuff. Kim did blind a snail (and we will never let her live that down) but we learned a lot of fun facts and saw lots of really neat astronomy things..

Oh, and we STOOD ON THE PRIME MERIDIAN. No big deal. Just chilled in two hemispheres at once.

Two Hemispheres. Whoop

Isn't Kim the cutest?

The ride back we had yet another new experience, riding the DLR (Direct light rail or something, I don't really remember what it stands for) which was basically like the overground, and then the Tube ride with a disgusting amount of people. I have never felt so claustrophobic in my life: there were about 4 different languages being spoken by people within a foot of my body, and I don't even want to think about the number of sweaty bodies that came into contact with mine. LESSON: Do NOT take the Central Line on a Friday evening in the middle of July. You WILL regret your decision.

Matt NOT doing a push-up like he was supposed to

But hey, two hemispheres..so I can't really complain :)