Greenwich is Not Pronounced the Way You Are Pronouncing It. There Are No Witches.

I thought I’d seen all of London.  I was confidant that I knew my city.

Psh- not even close!

A group of us traveled around Greenwich, which is the most southeast part of London.  I didn’t even know it existed before our trip.  And it is pronounced GREN-ITCH.  You know how the British like to ignore certain letters sometimes…

Several of us went to the London Trinity College of Music and explored around at a music festival.  It was taking place in a cathedral that was on campus.  The painted hall was where most of the instruments were.  All of the music and the instruments were Baroque, and therefore rare to me.  I mean, it’s not every day that you meet someone who plays the lute.  I thought the instruments were all quite unusual!  When I tried to make that comment to a recorder player as I examined his display table, he seemed to be offended.  I’m sorry that baroque instruments are rare to me… sir…?

I plucked at a few harps and beat a few drums but my favorite instrument there was the harpsichord.  I’d never seen one in person before.  They are so dainty and some of them were so beautifully decorated.  As I admired them on the far side of the painted hall, a few white-haired men came at different times to try out the different harpsichords.  They would lean over the little things and whip out a Chopin, no big deal.  They were trying them out to see if they wanted to purchase them.  But to me it seemed like they just were really anxious to show me how cool it would be to play a harpsichord.  Maybe someday I will, when I have white hair myself.

After that we all went to a market to find some food.  At that point we all split up due to food preferences and not to mention shopping preferences.  Naturally, I ended up with the people who were drawn to old books.  Sarah, Rachel, and I looked at some old books, and I even found some Harry Potter books that were only two pounds each!  It was tempting to buy them, just for the sake of having British copies.  The art is different, and even the text is a different style.  But in the end I decided I needed to save space in my suitcase for the trip home, because I will already have too many books. 

We ate at a Japanese stand, which was actually super good and deliciously cheap.  I’ve become quite skilled with chopsticks during my stay in London.  Lots of cultural experiences. 

Finally, we headed toward the Royal Observatory.  

Established in 1851, this has been a place of much astronomical study.  We were able to see some huge old telescopes.  

But most importantly, the Prime Meridian passes right through it.

Sarah is in the Western Hemisphere and I am in the Eastern.

Since the Observatory is situated on top of a big hill, there is a pretty view of London.

And here is England’s oldest public electric slave clock in front of Shepherd gate at the observatory.  Woot!

It was a long trip all the way back to Westminster, so during our travels we were sure to look out for those bag thieves…