greenwich not-mean time

29.april.05: it was sunday in london, and i was planning on visiting a Vineyard church while i was in the area. the brand new pastor for our church in visalia helped start a particular congregation in greenwich, so i decided to drop by.

i look on the internet to see the best route to get to greenwich via tube, and it would only take me so far before i had to get off the underground and hop on the railway (which is practically connected at the stations anyway).

so i wrote down all the different stops and transfers that i had to memorise, calculated how long it would take, and then decided i had enough time to get my fill of the touristy things to do in london.

and as i do this, i come across a big sign that said “thames river tours.” underneath it, it offered one-way tickets to greenwich. aha! direct transportation! and if that wasn’t luck enough, i also discover that it drops off right at the tube station i was aiming for anyway.

i had no idea greenwich was within such close proximities (it’s hard to tell these things on a tube map), so immediately i bought a ticket on the tour shuttle. i figured, why not travel in style? and that’s what i did, and got some historical points along the way, too.

greenwich is positively lovely. it had great pedestrian shopping areas, interesting things to do and see and visit and walk and... it was love at first sight, really.

i decided to climb down a set of stairs because a rush of people who looked somewhat touristy were doing it. that’s probably a stupid reason to do anything, but i did it anyway. and 7 flights of stairs later, i find myself walking in a strange, long, damp tunnel with white tiles lining the walls every step of the way. by the watermarks on the ceiling, i immediately knew i was walking underneath the river thames.

‘twas true, i later find out that the footpath to the opposite bank was about 50 feet underwater. strange, strange, strange.

greenwich is absolutely grand. i’m going to go back there someday to really spend time there.