Lesson 3: Don't Rock the Boat

Greetings from London,

   Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again - this week has been a blast. After our first two days of orientation, we took a boat tour down the Thames River (pronounced the Tems). It was absolutely beautiful and a fantastic way to see some major highlights, including the London Eye, Big Ben, the London Bridge, the Shakespeare theatre, and the Tower Bridge (often mistaken for the London Bridge young children sing about). Too bad my stomach wasn't as excited about the boat trip as I was. However, I made it to shore without spewing into the Thames.

Me and Big Ben

My roommates and I in front of the London Eye

The real London Bridge

The Towers Bridge

  We arrived in Greenwich in front of the Naval Academy. Our challenge was to find our way back to campus on our own via boat, tube, or bus after spending an afternoon in the charming city. While in Greenwich, we explored the Naval Academy, the Queen's House, and the Greenwich Observatory.

The Naval Academy

Naval Academy

The Queen's House

   We could only walk around the Naval Academy, which is apparently one of the strongest in the world, but we were lucky enough to enter the Queen's House. The Queen's House was designed by Queen Anne and was completed by her successor Queen Henrietta. The house was built to be a summer getaway for the royals. It was absolutely stunning! The building was mostly comprised of art featuring kings, queens, captains, and ships. It also had a giant spiral staircase referred to as the tulip staircase because it had iron tulips etched into the stairwell.

   After the Queen's House, we went to the Observatory. It had an amazing view of Greenwich, a
28-foot long telescope (the seventh largest in the world), and the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian is a point where you can stand in both the eastern and western hemisphere at the same time.

View from the top

24 hour clock

Dolphin sun-dial; the noses are the points and the bellies make up the hours

Mackenzie and me in front of Greenwich

Me standing in both the western and eastern hemisphere

   The Observatory centers around the theme of time. The entire building had more clocks than I could count and focused on the development of recording time. Royals previously struggled with determining the time when their tradesmen were out at sea. They held a contest for anyone who could come up with a way to determine the time at sea. The winner received 20,000 pounds, which was equivalent to more than one million dollars back in the day. Scientists came up with two ways that worked:

1) Record the time of day when one leaves and measure it with the position of the sun

2) Measure the alignment of the sun, stars, and planets.

 Another scientist also created a sea-time clock. He re-designed it three times.

   Later that evening, Mackenzie and I went to a club called Pacha. It was a super fun club that played  dance and pop music. Plus, Mackenzie and I were the only Americans there, so we had a chance to meet a few locals. But boy-oh-boy did we ever stick out like sore thumbs! We were the only girls dressed in pants. Every other girl had a dress or a skirt on. Now, we know: when going to the clubs, dress it up.

   Alright my royal subjects, her majesty is tired of blogging and is off to make herself some dinner.

Cheers!