Time for Greenwich - A nautical weekend

Greenwich - what a treat! I enjoy my monthly summer trips to London but I knew when I explored Greenwich that I would need more than a day. Its a area in South East London by the Thames that has a long association with all things nautical and is home to The Cutty Sark, The Royal Naval College, The Royal Observatory and The National Maritime Museum plus several other nautical monuments. N agreed to come with me as I planned to stay overnight and I believe that he thinks London just isn't quite ready for a loose Sue :-) so I booked us a room as close to the Thames that I could get - The Mitre Hotel which proved to be the perfect choice. We went up on the train on a Sunday which is very easy from LA and later we ubered to The Mitre to drop luggage off and start our adventure. 

First stop was The Cutty Sark which was a very easy walking distance from where we were staying. once inside my first impression was TEA - The Cutty Sark is an old tea clipper built in 1869 which greatly improved the transportation of tea from Shanghai, China and the fastest of them all. You can still smell the tea in the hold which was rebuilt in the forties after a fire and incorporated used tea chests. I love the feeling of being in touching distance of anything old and with a history and my imagination runs riot with thoughts of what it must have been like to live on such a vessel in the 1870 as she sped through the oceans. The experience itself is very immersive and you can plot a course from China to England  - which we both failed miserably to do at first attempt. We learned about the navigational instruments the captain would have used and saw photographs of the working crew and details of their very poor rations served up from the tiniest of galleys. We admired the renovation and the variety of knots in the rigging (which I later learned a friend of mines dad had been involved with while at Naval College). It was very interesting and well worth a visit ........ and an opportunity to have a 'Titanic' moment on the upper deck! We hopped off the ship and walked over to the pub by the same name to have lunch - which was surprisingly good!

After lunch we headed up to the observatory - again we ubered but this time we were not so lucky as our driver was clueless and dropped us where google maps told him the Observatory was which happened to be quite a long walk! So we limped into the observatory - our enthusiasm waning with every step.

The Royal Observatory is a beautiful building high on Greenwich Hill looking down on the Thames and is the site of the Greenwich meridian (GMT) and had the important role in navigation and astronomy. It was commissioned in 1685 by Charles 1 and at the same time he created the role of Royal Astronomer to, "apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to the rectifying of the tables of the motions of the heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of the art of navigation."  

John Flamsteed was appointed and the museum is in Flamsteed House where he and his family lived. As well as interested details of the family and the history of navigation and study of the heavens, the museum has some amazing instruments of the time which I found fascinating and was in awe of the craftsmanship and thinking that lay behind sectors, compass and astrolabe. Some were really beautiful and again my thoughts conjured up the people who used them and how clever they were. I got to stand with one foot either side of that important Greenwich meridian. In fact I loved this visit as it was more than I expected and the view down over the Thames was worth the long walk. We were in luck on our return as a disability golf cart stopped as we were trying to get a signal to call an uber to get us back down the hill and offered to take us - Thank Goodness! we were dropped only a few yards from The Mitre and were able to have a well deserved tipple and access our room to freshen up for a very late Sunday roast! After which we managed to get ourselves drawn into the weekly Sunday Quiz night that the Mitre holds. It was both terrifying and hilarious as we had no idea of the answers to some of the more modern questions and our guesses brought much mirth to the team marking them!

On Monday we planned to visit The Naval College- just to enjoy the Painted Hall and we thought the earlier the better to enjoy it without the crowds. The College buildings are massive and sprawl over the banks of the Thames. They were designed by Christopher Wren and build between 1696 to 1712. They have been a palace and a hospital and they are very impressive! - they house The Painted Hall which is a magnificent baroque masterpiece by Sir James Thornhill and has over 200 figures of Kings, Queens and mythological characters  painted over walls and ceilings and over an area of 3700 square meters and features the artist himself. It was a sight to behold and again I learned so much as our guide brought history to life for us and N was able to imagine his great grandfather having dinner in this great hall as he attended this very naval college. Unforgettable but I left with a crick in my neck after spending a couple of hours looking heavenwards. We needed a rest and chose to  walk up the Thames to a landmark pub called The Trafalgar - so easy to spot as it was covered in Naval flags which we sat under as they fluttered around us! A bit early in the day for a tot of rum but a nice long shandy was very welcome before we made our way towards The Queens Gallery en route to the Maritime museum.

The Queens Gallery houses a stunning collection of maritime art and I was hoping to see  Constable's The Fighting Temeraire but was disappointed as it was out on loan. However we saw The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1 and an unexpected pair of LS Lowry's and had a peak at the magnificent staircase which I believe has featured in several films! Again all housed in a beautiful building.

By now we were feeling the pace - London is sprawling and exhausting to navigate so we continued our day by finding food - in the cafeteria of the Maritime Museum! The chairs were most welcome and the food surprisingly good and after a brief rest we went to the info desk and as time was ticking and our legs were aching, we asked to two 'not to be missed; exhibits and were directed to The Trafalgar Room with exhibits of our late great Admiral and then on to view relics from The Titanic. We were both by now feeling that sinking feeling and went to collect our luggage and walk to the Uber boat station on the Thames where we fittingly ended our visit. WoW! The nautical weekend truly exceeded our expectations and although we did a lot - we learned a lot and felt it was worth the energy invested - having said that we were grateful for our long rest on the train home. Greenwich is lovely and such an interesting place.

A new direction.

Having a contemplating week - Yes! I know a bit deep but I've been thinking what is the point of my blog other than keeping an online diary and recording my travels so I have decided to add some purpose to my ramblings. I'll continue recording my ramblings and roaming adventures but my focus from now is to create a positive space for being ageing. I am 71 - 'NO' I hear you think and so do I most days but I am that age and although I feel years younger and have a positively juvenile outlook on life Id like to share with others what works for me. Not anti ageing secrets but more of a pro ageing wisdom.

Although I consider myself to be an intuitive being, I believe most things in life start with a decision or choice and that's how I start my day with decisions I have made about my day and so day by day I have consciously decided how I want my life to be. Sometimes the universe gets in the way of all this and makes decisions for me - like incidents beyond my control such as illness or other obstacles thrown in my way. I surrender to these and think of them as lessons and a hint to slow down or rethink direction.

Back to the decisions I have made about ageing - my blog is called The G Spot for reasons I explained in 'about me' in the side bar, I plan to live my Golden years with Grace, Gratitude, Generosity, staying Grounded and Genuine and I hope I can live with a little Glamour and Glitz to light my way! So the G spot is still where you'll find me but I'll try and keep my wanderings on tack by promoting pro ageing and sharing what I have learned so far on living young - into my seventies!