Dear Luke and Leia,
Today is our second day in London and we have chosen to take a river cruise on the Thames from the downtown area of London up to Greenwich. It is a cold and rainy day, but thankfully the river boat is well prepared for this with closing glass windows that you can see the city from.
River Cruise boat on the Thames
Our river cruise on the Thames heads towards the London Tower Bridge that we road the HoHo bus yesterday across.
Sailing from downtown towards Greenwich goes under the London Tower Bridge
It was different looking at the bridge from the Thames river level instead of street level. It looks so much more impressive when you are at this level as it towers over you while passing under it. The people look minuscule compared to the base of the tower.
Sailing under the London Tower Bridge on the river Thames
Next we cruise through the area known as the docklands. This is where the shipping for London loads and unloads and has been used to many of hundreds of years. Now there is a convention center named Excel located in this area and lots of hotels and restaurants to serve the conference goers.
Wharfs in the docklands area of London
Stormy day in the Financial District along Thames
We liked the Financial District with all the skyscrapers that reached into the clouds and seemed to pull them down. It looked like one of the clouds was a tornado over the Citi building, but it was not.
Greenwich, the beginning of time (zones)
Next we reached Greenwich at the top of the river cruise. This is where the times zones of the world start, known as GMT or Greenwich mean time. From this point you either add an hour or subtract and hour for each zone radiating outwards from Greenwich around the world until you reach the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. The dateline dodges islands both east and west to split the start of days.
Along the Thames
We saw so many interesting buildings while on the river cruise on the Thames river with very stately architecture. Many had columns and domes and ornate designs on them like those above.
Battleship HMS Belfast on the Thames
We came across the HMS Belfast battleship which is now a naval museum. The battleship was launched in 1938 and fought in both the Second World War and the Korean War. The ship was impressive from the view we had. This ship time period marks the ending of the British Empire and the time the United States rose to world power.
At one time the British Empire stretched across the whole world that it was said the sun never set upon the British Empire. Do you know why? Because God didn’t trust the Brits in the dark. (Just a joke)
Sailing along the Thames
We we are reaching the end of our river cruise on the Thames river. We have seen such an overview of London in the first two days of our layover in London, but tomorrow we will focus on the Tower of London. I think it’s time for a pint with my half-pint (Nana) at a local pub and some fish and chips for dinner.
We miss you both.
Love,
Nana and Pap
Sailing along the Thames in London
A pint and a half pint
The London Eye
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