Keeping Time in London
I’d changed hotels to a more comfortable room the night before, so I woke refreshed and ready to take on the day. The plan was to meet Charmian under the big clock in the center of Waterloo station. I managed to navigate there a few minutes early, even changing train lines enroute. I treated myself to a Starbucks coffee and they even accepted payment through the app. Turns out the $6 coffee at home costs only $10 in London.
Char arrived on time and we set off to the Greenwich observatory. We crossed some beautiful open green space and climbed the hill to see the zero point for longitude references. It's an incredible story of fine-tuning navigation that was tied to the invention of an accurate timepiece that could operate on the ship. In fact, there was such a push to create this timepiece that a prize was offered that would be worth more than a million dollars today.
By knowing exactly what time it is at Greenwich, and then using a sextant to determine the angle of the sun, you could tell how far east or west of the zero point you were. Prior to this, sailors crossed the ocean using only latitude. Being able to calculate both latitude and longitude saved an incredible amount of time and money for merchants crossing the water, because now they could sail from one point to the other much more accurately.
The museum had a number of timepieces built in pursuit of the prize. Some were very large and cumbersome, but the designs were intricate, artistic, and an incredible display of man's ability to craft precise instruments, way before computers.
After finishing up at the Museum, we walked down the hill to the Greenwich village area. It was a Saturday and the weather was nice, so there were crowds pretty much everywhere. We walked past the Cutty Sark, a ship that has been identified with whiskey for centuries.
Stopping nearby for lunch at an Asian-fusion style restaurant, I joked with the gentleman who seated and later served us. When we were finishing up, I told him I liked him so much that I would even pay for my meal, instead of dining and dashing.
For the record, I have never done that. The man’s response was to tell us to wait just a moment. He returned with a plate filled with a large slice of chocolate-covered carrot cake and a big scoop of coconut ice cream, saying that since we were friends he was happy to share it with us. It was a delightful moment, and although I'm not usually a dessert eater, this tasted extra good. And not just because it was free.
After lunch we wandered along the Thames, and Char pointed out many historic buildings. She even had a story about how Peter the Great, of Russia, set up residence for a while at the naval academy. After a while we circled back around the park and used the tunnel to cross under the Thames. Coming up on the far side, we walked along the water as much as possible. Much of the area that used to be filled with little inlets and docks, for commerce and crime, had been transformed into residential space. Some of it was still working class, while other areas were more upscale.
We climbed out onto a floating dock to catch the ferry toward Parliament and Big Ben. I took full advantage of the 30-minute travel time to get a 20-minute nap. I'm very proud of the fact that I can nap most anywhere at any time. It's a skill I've been perfecting for more than six decades.
Once off the ferry, we crossed the Thames on the Westminster bridge and walked to one of the British war museums. It was a smaller museum with a pretty broad cross-section of exhibits. Everything from Japanese, German, British, and American World War II vehicles and planes, plus a section of the twin towers that came down on 9/11. There was also a very sobering Holocaust exhibit.
It was a short walk back to the area of the London Eye, where it was already time to grab some dinner before a show. We didn't need to go to the Theater District, since this particular play was being presented in an old courthouse—an appropriate setting for Agatha Christie's Witness For the Defense, where almost all the action takes place in a courthouse. The show was good but the seats were not comfortable. Like many old buildings, they were designed to accommodate smaller people.
Waterloo station, where the day began, was not far away. Charmian and I dashed off to catch trains in different directions. When I'm riding unfamiliar trains, I like to ask somebody local if I'm going in the correct direction. A woman assured me that I was, and I grabbed a seat. Two stops later, a gentleman, very softly in a very British way, told us that he overheard us talking and we were both going in the wrong direction. The woman, who said she grew up in London, apologized profusely. I just laughed as we both got off at the next stop to retrace our route. It probably cost me 10 or 15 minutes and wasn't a big deal—but the story was well worth it.
After a shower, I fell almost immediately to sleep. A big travel day tomorrow includes catching the train through the chunnel to head into France.
