This morning we took the Thames Clipper down the river to Greenwich. It was a great
way to see the city from a slightly different perspective. I was impressed with
how easily the boat was pulled along side at every stop, though I guess they
have a lot of practice. When we arrived at our stop, I thought it was hilarious
that they announced we’d arrived in “Greenwich”
and “Green-witch,” for those tourists who might be confused. We did a little
walking tour of Greenwich, seeing the former
location of the Tudor
Castle, where both Mary
and Elizabeth were born.
Then, we made our way to the National Maritime Museum, where we had a
tour and lecture. We divided into two groups, and mine was led by Graham, the
Archive Assistant. He was a Fine Arts major, who found his way into archiving. We
got to see three boxes of related documents that the museum uses when school
groups come by. There was a box of Tudor Period documents about the Spanish
Armada. Apparently, the Armada is a mandatory part of the curriculum for London elementary
students. This really took me by surprise at the time, but in retrospect, even US students
learn about the destruction of the Armada as the context for the British
colonies, and the Armada is a lot more relevant for British history. What is
amazing is the programming plan for the students. They are expected to
transcribe handwriting from documents from the 1600s. This seems like a very
advanced assignment for elementary students. I don’t believe I ever saw real
primary documents half that age, even in high school!
Graham not only showed us the documents and books, but we
were also allowed to handle them! I got to leaf through a book on maritime
health, and papers on piracy. My personal favorite, however, was the
handwritten journal of a Chaplain in the British Navy, which was written in
1812. In his journal, he included some truly amazing colored illustrations,
some of which have been used to reproduce the naval costumes of the time.
After we got done paging through the documents, Graham led
us on a tour of the museum library and archives. The library was up a little
stair, in a dull grey corridor. Graham told us that they’re planning on
redecorating the path, to encourage the public to take advantage of their
library. Had he not been leading me, I certainly wouldn’t have stumbled on the
library while I was there.
The reading room was divided into two sections, quiet and
regular, and it was stocked with new state-of-the-art equipment for reading
microfiche, scanning, etc. There was also a station for a project in progress:
a digital collection of the ship plan records they possess. The current status
of the project is 1%, but we got to see how the database will work, and it
seemed really useful and intuitive.
The Graham led us to the “back of house,” to see where the
archives are stored. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of any of that. We
were told that pictures were forbidden, for security purposes. Apparently, we
have to worry about thieves using said pictures to plan heists! I had no idea
librarianship involved outthinking the Ocean’s 11 crew! The archives were kept
in secure, climate controlled rooms, with the cranking bookshelves to conserve
space. The other thing of note we saw in back of house was the larges lift
(elevator) I’ve ever seen. It was probably at least 20 feet across. They use
that lift for moving museum pieces or boats (it is a maritime museum). We
really wanted to see the inside of the lift, but Graham didn’t have the key,
unfortunately.
After thanking Graham and the head of the library, we
decided to briefly tour the Maritime
Museum. We saw a fabulous
exhibit about the motivations of explorers, a display on the East India Trading
Company, a room of stained glass (including a panel of “Justice” that looked
like Nicholas Cage), and one of Nelson’s uniforms (which is apparently the one
he’d been shot in, but we couldn’t see the bullet hole). It was 12:50 at this
point, and in Greenwich, the Royal Observatory
marks one o’clock by raising and dropping a red ball, which apparently used to
help ships on the Thames mark the time. We
briefly stopped in the gift shop, before raising out onto the lawn to catch the
ball dropping at 1:00 pm. It happened A LOT faster than anticipated. If the
person on the ship happened to be looking away for a moment, they might have
missed the marking of the hour. 
We decided to visit the Royal Observatory, so we made our
way up the hill… and then up, up, up the steepest hill I think I’ve ever walked
as a paved path. The Royal Observatory had a museum for the astronomical work
that was done on the hill, as well as another one on Greenwich and time, since Greenwich Mean Time
is the standard by which all other times are kept. The Prime Meridian is also at Greenwich. We all took turns taking pictures
with one foot in the East Hemisphere and one in the West. It was all very “A
Walk to Remember.” Still, we had a lot of fun.
It was almost three at that point, and we had to be ready
for our welcoming reception at five, so we made our way back down the steep
hill (and I was afraid at times that I would just pitch forward, so the down
walk wasn’t very much more comfortable than the up). We were all starving, so
three of us found a little café off one of the Greenwich streets called “Cake and Bakes.”
Although we didn’t get any cake, we did hear the server list the available
cakes to another customer, and I remember that it included lemon cake,
chocolate cake, raspberry cheesecake, vanilla cake, and apple pie, which is
apparently a cake in this country? Christine, Jessica, and I all ended up
getting pesto chicken Panini, which I had never tried before. It was wonderful!
We scarfed it all down walking and waiting for the bus.
We sat on the upper level of the bus on our hour long trip
back from Greenwich,
and with full stomachs, it was hard to stop the bus from swaying you to sleep.
I have to say that I love the availability and reliability of mass transit in London. The Tube, the clippers,
and the buses have all been amazing so far, and it’s so easy to get from one
place to another, even as a tourist. The bus trip back passed through some of
the poorer parts of London,
but it was really indistinguishable from any other city, outside of the
touristy area. Even though we didn’t know when our stop was, we were able to
start recognizing landmarks soon enough to get off at the right one.
That night, we got dolled up and walked over to the Somerset
House for our Welcome Reception. There were several speeches about our time
here with BSP, and the chaplain regaled
us with explanations of cricket and the difference between a pasty and a pastry
(answer: it varies, thanks for asking, Alison!). There were appetizers and
drinks following the speeches, and we hungry students made short work of them.
Some of the appetizers were clear winners: veggie tray? Yes, please! Cheesecake
bites? Don’t mind if I do! Others were a bit unusual, like the cold chicken
fingers with barbeque sauce. Who serves those cold?
The pub down the street from the dorms, The Thirsty Bear,
had a welcome for BSP students, as well, and we wandered down there for free Long Island ice teas. The music was an interesting mix of
contemporary and ‘80s/’90s pop. Thirsty
Bear. When Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” came on, though, we all sang our hearts
out.
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