Sunday, April 5, 2009

Greenwich

Today Pat and I went to Greenwich. We took the Tube (subway) there and walked under the Thames through the pedestrian tunnel, and we took a ferry back (seeing London from the river was fantastic). Once back in London we walked around Covent Garden, Neal's Yard, and Soho, which was a lot of fun. We got great treats from specialty shops: a banana-toffee cupcake, a huge double-chocolate cookie, and amazing cheddar cheese that we used to top our chili later in the evening (I cooked for a small dinner party).

Person:

I met a friend of Pat's named CJ at the dinner party. CJ was a really nice guy, and had some great experiences to share. I think he may have traveled more than just about anyone I've met. He is originally from near Houston, now lives in Oslo, Norway, and travels between there, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, and several other places I can't remember for work. He's in London now on holiday (what they call vacation here), but had stories from every continent and it seemed like just about every country we brought up.

Place:

As most of you probably know, Greenwich is the reference point for calculating Coordinated Universal Time (in other words, what time it is anywhere in the world). The spot where the transit instrument used to calculate Greenwich's mean solar time was originally located is marked in the Royal Observatory as the Prime Meridian of the world. I got to straddle it today.
Food:

Today I finally got some fish and chips! We stopped at a pub in Greenwich before riding the ferry back, and I got this massive piece of fish. It was served with chips (fries) of course, tartar sauce, malt vinegar, and mashed peas. It was all delicious. I got a sampler deal where I tried 3 different bitters (a common beer style here) in 1/3 pint glasses.

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