Wednesday, January 6, 2010

GLORIOUS GREENWICH!

Hiya all! So on Monday I had a day off , and fresh off of my Edinburgh adventures I was in the mood to explore more parts of London I had not yet seen. At the top of my list was Greenwich. Greenwich is a district in South-East London best known for its maritime history and as giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian - to explain this in Ben's words , Greenwich is where time begins. So where you may have seen time referred to as GMT that stands for 'Greenwich Mean Time' - its zero on longtitude - if that doesnt make sense I suggest you all wikipedia it hehe Ben is my walking talking Wikipedia & Google so that helps! More importantly the Royal Observatory has amazing views from the top of Greenwich , thats what I was going to see however I stumbled on some other beauties along the way. While getting dressed in the morning I felt the need to branch out from wearing whats become a uniform of my black Diesel coat thrown over everything - its ashame because there's always something fabulous underneath for no one to see - so today I thought 'warm & fabulous is acheivable i'm leaving the coat at home' and opted to debut the 7pound red & black check puffa vest I bought a while back in a Primark moment of craziness - however the result was Kanye meets RZOE. As I got off the tube station at Greenwich , Venti Peppermint Mocha in hand , I began my walk through central Greenwich
Along the way I stumbled on a really cool little church right in the centre of the main street...

I continued my walk up following the signs toward the Royal Observatory. Along the way I stumbled upon what felt like walking through gates that sent me into the past. A town square of sorts that housed several buildings now called 'The Old Royal Naval College' then called the 'Palace of Placentia'. As I walked through the cobbled stone pathway I literally felt like I had walked into the 18th Century. Pictured below is the Greenwich Hospital (not a hospital anymore just a really cool old peice of architecture) I didnt know this at the time as I was my own tour guide but this is where Elizabeth I (as in the 1st) was born - pretty amazing facts!Opposite the hospital are 2 identical buildings framed by arch ways. One is a beautiful old Chapel Here are some pictures of me by and inside the Chapel. As I sat there in the gaps of the arches I was so at peace with everything. It was cold but not freezing , the sun was shining through my red Ray Ban Wayfarers (circa wayfarer mania 2007) and I was in an incredible historical location. Life was good and It was just a very beautiful almost spiritual moment - sounds corny.The church was quite nice on the inside too , nothing overwhelmingly grand but still with a look, what Impressed me most were the amazingly crafted ceilings it was absolutley stunning.
Adjacent to the Cathedral was the 'Painted Hall' which I was most certainly very impressed by. From the minute I walked up the stairways and saw the painted-hall , as it is aptly named , I was just blown away. The rows of candelit long tables set an ambience in the room that made me feel like I stepped into a Royal Dinner , it was absolutley incredible and I relished every moment.So as I left historical-heaven it was off to cross the road to head towards the Royal Observatory to go climb the hill and see this view. The hill was very steep I must say , but with the green surrounding me I couldnt get the smile off my face - Greenwich is a must for all visiting London its just beautiful. Once I finally got up to the Observatory , I saw the Greenwich clock displaying GMT , I read a few plaques that helped me understand what exactly I was looking at a clock for.
Below the picture of the clock is a picture of the Meridian ball - this was used in the past for sailors and naval officers as to give them an indication of their surroundings.


...and this was the glorious view from the top of Greenwich Hill you can see the buildings of Canary Wharf (the business district) in the background and on a clear day you can even see St.Paul's Cathedral. The air was so fresh and crisp and it was just a lovely reward for my climb....after my adventures in Greenwich I went to meet Benny as he finished work. We walked through Selfridges where Ben spotted Jamie Oliver shopping in the book section - I didnt even noticeand was kicking myself for it , I actually walked back to go find him but he had already gone! We then went for a walk through Hyde Park and by this stage of the day the temperatures were really dropping. As we got into Hyde Park we noticed the Serpentine (lake - which runs through the park) had frozen over. We decided to go check it out , Ben tipped his toe on the ice and it shattered a little bit to reveal water. Not as frozen as we thought. When we got around to the other side of the lake I thought "Oh wait now its my turn to go check it out". Now I'm going to try describe this as best as I can in words. We both walked over the the lake where there was a slight step down , the step down was icy and slippery and just as I raised my leg to tip the ice Ben and I both slipped , literally almost slipping into the frozen lake , we somehow regained balancce and got back up onto dry-ish land and burst into what felt like 20minutes of i-almost-peed-my-pants laughter. I was actually crying from how much I was laughing at the situation , it could have been quite dangerous but wasnt an for that I was greatful. All in all a hilarious end to my glorious day! I leave you with this picture of the Serpentine at Sunset. Stunning xoxo Deni

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