Remember that school yard game of our youth? I never got to be Mr. Wolf – perhaps because I was too fast to be caught, or maybe because the idea of eating little children did not appeal to me. Either way, I wish I had remembered to play it the other day while visiting
the place where time begins
Any idea what I might be referring to? It’s rather a whimsical idea, isn’t it? Are you imagining an Alice-like world filled with floating clocks and tipsy-turvy tea cups? There were several clocks – some telescopes too – but I was in no storybook. On Sunday I went to Greenwich to check out, amongst other things, the Prime Meridian.
Here I stand in the in-between. One foot in the Eastern Hemisphere, one in the West.
The photo at the top of this entry shows the hill we climbed and the building in which this start-point is situated. It is called the Royal Observatory, and the red ball at the top of the building is called the Time Ball. It is one of the world’s earliest public time signals and falls every day at 1300h.
The PM is located in Greenwich Park, where we found yet another hill to climb, this one entitled ‘One Tree Hill.’ This is me being one tree on that hill.
Just outside the park is a slew of museums and sites to visit. This is the Queen’s House – once belonging to Queen Anne of Denmark (wife of King James I). We weren’t able to go inside due to a Pirate Party (seriously), but Luke and I took photographs outside to make up for that fact (and I later learned that photos are not permitted within the building). This is me practicing my Princess skills.
This lovely place is called The Painted Hall. It took 19 years for the artist 19 years to complete it and it can be rented out as a venue for banquets.
We rounded off our day with a visit to the local mexican restaurant. Here I ponder how very short-lived my vegetarian attempt happened to be.
So cool you made it to Greenwich! I visited there last time I lived in London and loved the whole idea of the place–you worded it perfectly
My friend and I had no idea why the ball dropped at 1pm…only until I posted pics on Facebook and another friend informed us it was used by all the ships to set their time everyday. Who knew?! Great pictures, as always.
Thanks Candace! The guy I was there with told me about the ball and I thought he was making it up for the first hour. I didn’t see the ball drop, but we were there for 1 pm. too bad we missed it!
Where are you now? Are you no longer living in the Greater London Area?
we could see the top of the observatory and the red ball from our flat way over in canada water and morgan would set his watch to it every time he remembered (and if we werent there already which was rare because greenwich was our all time favorite!) did you get a chance to go to the market? they have the BEST brownies there, way better than borough. and an amazing steak and cheese sandwich!
We walked past the market several times but I didnt get a chance to stop. I’m going to go with my flatmate who works in Greenwich – and I start in Woolwich on Monday so I’ll be tehre often. I will DEFINITELY try the sandwich and the brownies and I will dedicate a blog post to you!
What an awesome place to visit! How long have they done the ball drop thing? I wonder if that is what inspired the Time’s Square ball drop on New Years?
PS: I love your coat. What a fab color!
ahhhhhhhhhh i’m glad you like my coat! it’s very LIESL, i think! I believe the ball has been dropping for many years. since the 1800s, i think! I’m not sure if that’s what the ball drop is based on, but neat if it was!
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