Day two of London sightseeing. We decided we should do the river boat ride on the Thames first, then additional hop on hop off bus routes as time allowed.  It was enough of a cool breezy morning that we decided to sit inside the boat as we traveled the one hour to the city of Greenwich. Boat trips are a great way to get a totally different perspective of a city. We passed the iconic sights of Parliament and Big Ben, both of which are shrouded in scaffolding and undergoing restoration. It turns out that the tower holding Big Ben is sinking and they need to shore it up. It is a pity as they are both popular photo ops. We passed the London Eye, the overgrown Ferris wheel, fancy apartments housed in converted ancient wharfs, and the famous Tate modern art museum, housed in a former power plant. There was a constant narrated commentary as we sailed downriver, pointing out other famous sights like the real London bridge, whiich is not what most people think it is.  Most people think the twin towered bridge is the London bridge. It is not. That is the tower bridge. The real London bridge is a bit upstream and not as visually dramatic. And furthermore, the original London bridge is now on Lake Havasu in Arizona, purchased by an American when the English decided the original bridge had to be replaced.

The boat stopped at the Tower of London to drop off those who wanted to visit the site, before continuing on to our destination, Greenwich. We wanted to go to Greenwich to see the prime meridian, where time is defined (Greenwich mean time).

We passed two areas you often hear a lot about: the Docklands and Canary Wharf. Both areas were heavily involved with shipping in earlier days; today they have become areas of fashionable homes, restaurants and shops.

Greenwich turned out to be a lovely area and worthy of a longer visit then we were able to give it. One of the world’s fastest clipper ship, the Cutty Sark, is in it’s final resting place and  available for exploration. The Royal Naval College( designed by Sir Christopher Wren), the National Maritime Museum and a lovely small town are also there to explore. One should really spend a full day to experience all that Greenwich has to offer.

We had to pass these other attractions as we were on a mission- finding the Prime Meridian (the line that divide the Eastern Hemisphere from the Western Hemisphere)  and taking our picture with one foot on either side of it. We have done that at the equator which divides the Northern Hemisphere from the Southern Hemisphere, so this would complete the set.  The Royal Observatory, where the line is located, was a bit of a hike from the Thames River but we were not deterred.  Twenty minutes and some 5,000 steps later we found the Prime Meridian and got our desired pictorial documentation.

Back to the dock for a very quick lunch and onto the boat for our return to London proper to continue taking a Hop-on, Hop-off route.

We chose the blue route as it took us through areas like Kensington, Knightbridge and Paddington, and past museums like the Victoria and Albert.   Trivia for the day: entrance to the British museums is free.

We had to limit our hop-on hop-off experience to only two as it was late in the afternoon and we had another early dinner reservation and tickets to see Hamilton. Tonight was steak night and they were surprisingly good-tender and tasty!

By chance the theater where Hamilton was playing was across from our hotel so there were no transportation issues to deal with. It was an easy 5 minute walk from the hotel to the restaurant and then to the theater.  Our tickets to Hamilton were paperless and when we got to the theater at 7 PM we found ourselves in a line that stretched at least a block.   My immediate thought was there would be no way we can be in our seats before the performance begins at 7:30. We were suppposed to bring the credit card used and photo ID to get our tickets. That would be very time consuming. What a major screwup this would be. The line started moving, slowly at first but then surprisingly fairly quickly.  We were funneled into multiple lines depending on what our seating location was and reached a lady with a scanner who asked for the credit card I had used to purchase the tickets. She ran it though her reader and our seat tickets were printed by the hand held scanner. Bam, we were checked in and headed to our seats! It took all of 7 minutes. I was astonished the system worked so well. They never did ask for our photo ID however.

 

I did not expect to enjoy Hamilton. I was going because of the publicity and awards it has received. Based on the little I had seen on TV it seems like simply a “hip-hop” musical, a music genre I really do not like. I thought I would have trouble following the story and music. Well, I was VERY wrong. I absolutely loved the production. The costumes, the choreography and the story lines are awesome. It is extremely fast paced and keeps your attention. The first act lasted almost 75 minutes and no one moved and and not a sound was heard in the auditorium. The audience seemed mesmerized with the spectacle. I have not seen anything as absorbing since first seeing Lion King. I would go and  see it again!

Our pre-trip visit to London is over. We leave on our escorted tour of England tomorrow morning.