Sunday, September 26, 2010

Greenwich

Cory planned an outing for Saturday to Greenwich.  Plans for the day included stops at the Royal Observatory for a toddler planetarium show, the National Maritime Museum and the Prime Meridian.  For those of you who have forgotten elementary geography, the Prime Meridian is the spot where it is 0° longitude.

We allowed plenty of time to get from our flat to Greenwich and journey time was expected to be about an hour.  As soon as we got on the train the conductor came over the speakers and notified us of 'serious' delays on the Jubilee line due to mechanical issues on a train earlier in the morning.  I think both Cory and I are learning what it means to not be in control.  Brady on several occasions said, "All done train, bye bye train!".  He didn't want to be stuck waiting either.   There really weren't any great options to switch lines and since a taxi would probably have cost about $50 USD we decided to wait it out and cross our fingers that we would make our 11am show on time.  We ended up making it to the Royal Observatory about 10 minutes before our show so all turned out ok.  Our love for public transport is definitely not quite where it needs to be yet for our year in the city and we find ourselves really missing our Honda Pilot.



The planetarium show at the Royal Observatory was a bit scary for Brady even though it was a show geared for kids 5 and under.  It was a story about a teddy bear who was visited all the planets.  I got some good cuddle time out of it though which is hard to come by these days so I was happy.  After the show, Brady played in Greenwich Park.  The views were absolutely stunning.  Definitely the highlight of the trip.



We also took a picture of the famous Greenwich Mean time clock.  We both were expecting more, but I guess it's just a clock and there's a spot in the park where it is 0° longitude, but it isn't even marked.


After the park we headed to a Mexican restaurant we had spotted close to the train.  Cory thought it was  good, but I was disappointed.  First the chips and salsa were very tiny.  This didn't surprise either of us too much as I think the US is the only country that believes in the 'bottom-less' concept, but the salsa cup was barely big enough to fit a chip inside it and I believe if you count there are 22 chips.  We could have easily each eaten our own chips and salsa. I ordered tacos thinking how could you screw them up.  They came out with shredded beef that had been stewed in a bbq/chili looking sauce.  It was too spicy for me to eat.  Take a look at the picture and tell me if you think it looks like taco meat?  Cory got a chicken burrito and his was much better.  I ordered Brady a bean and cheese quesadilla and I think I could have very well been the first person to place that order as they were a bit confused and had to check with the kitchen to see if it could be done.  Turns out they could and his was decent.




We still had the Maritime Museum to visit so we headed back to the park area after lunch.  Not sure what we were expecting, but it basically had a bunch of boats.  Old boats, new boats, sailing boats, work boats, toy boats you get the picture.  Brady enjoyed looking at the boats, everything was 'Big Big Boat Mommy", "Big Boat Daddy".  I was primarily interested in finding a Diet Coke at this point and was disappointed by the fact that they served Pepsi.

 


We finished up looking at the boats and headed home.  Tube journey was faster on the way back, but we had a new issue - see below.  Brady had the best seat in the house sitting in his stroller and slept the whole way.  Another nice Saturday adventure in the books!

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