So, yesterday my other half and I met up with some of my old school chums (and their gorgeous, adorable, beautiful four-month-old daughter) and we visited Greenwich. Why? Well, I actually hadn’t been before, and a few weeks ago I saw a news article on the BBC news website slagging off the restoration of the Cutty Sark, which reminded me I’d never been to Greenwich, so when a meet-up location between West London and Essex was required, it was the first place that came to mind.
So we set off bright and early to get to Cutty Sark DLR station. My OH mentioned on route that he had never been on the DLR before, so of course when we changed at Canary Wharf I made sure we went on the front carriage! We then arrived in Greenwich to sunny sunshine and my friends waiting to meet us at the station.
The Cutty Sark is located very close to the station that’s named for it, so we headed there first, but to our dismay it costs £12 to have a look around. £12! Not very student or young-family friendly. Luckily my friend happened to know the area well having studied nearby, so took us on a little tour of the area and to see some of the free things. We started with the Chapel and Painted Hall of the university of Greenwich. They were both so beautiful! The chapel has an organ with gold pipes which is pretty cool. And the painted hall has a painted ceiling (take a look for yourself here) that reminded me of when my OH and I visited the Vatican and saw the sistine chapel. We then moved on to The Queen’s House which has a large collection of paintings, many of which are to do with the see, and also some very interesting Tudor portraits.
After lunch at Nando’s we moved on to the National Maritime Museum, to have a look at the different bits of boaty/maritime stuff. They have lots of interesting things including the uniform Nelson was wearing when he was shot and killed at the battle of Trafalgar. They also have a ship simulator there that looked like fun but sadly it was closed when we visited!
After saying goodbye to my friends, my OH and I decided we would take the slight detour on the way home to have a go on the Emirates Air Line, so we took the bus towards the o2. When we got there it became apparent it was a mistake – the queue for it was MASSIVE! So we decided to go back another time on a weekday, then got a Costa coffee and took the train home. I really hope we do get to go on it whilst I’m still living in London!
All in all I really enjoyed our day out in Greenwich and I would recommend it, but you’d better start saving your pennies if you want to see the Cutty Sark or the observatory!