Greenwich

Friday 23 May

Our last day in London and we caught the Thames Ferry at the Embankment Wharf to travel down to Greenwich to meet a Sydney couple with whom we have corresponded for around 15 years on family history matters. Lionel is working in London for about two years on the Olympic Games Stadium site clean up before construction starts.

Arriving at the Greenwich Wharf which is beside the burnt out Cutty Sark, this old sailing ship is currently being restored after being badly damaged by fire, a short walk to the Old Greenwich Royal Hospital which was originally built as a home for sailors in the 1700s. After we met Helen we walked around to the old Trafalgar Inn which is on the edge of the Thames and sat at a table looking out on to the river mud flats just on tide change, by the time we finished lunch the river had risen by probably by 2 metres and still rising.

After lunch we walked to the old hospital which after is ceased to be a pensioners’ residence, became the Royal Naval College and is now part of the Greenwich University. We first went to the Painted Hall which was designed as the pensioners’ dining room but when completed it was considered too grand for pensioners and it wasn’t used as a dining room until the building was converted to the Naval College. It was in this room that Nelson’s body laid in state before being taken to St Paul’s Cathedral.

From the Painted Hall we walked across to the courtyard to the Chapel which is still in use, on the wall was a list of Chaplains starting in 1732, it was interesting to note that the chaplain before the current one was a women, it had only taken 270 years for a women to be appointed.

We then walked through Greenwich old market and the village before catching a bus back to the house they are renting, it was the coach house for the house next door and has been converted into a very comfortable house. After supper we caught the bus to North Greenwich station, which is beside the Millennium Dome and travelled on the Jubilee Line back into the city.

Tomorrow we leave for Bath, hopefully to stay with friends in the village where we had our house, we haven’t been able to contact them so maybe they have left town knowing we are coming.

This may be our last posting before we arrive in Japan at the end of the month as we may not be able to access the internet.