This trip was jam packed from start to finish, and thankfully everyone that I met with was willing to play along! I finally met Hannah from Just Another Day, and our first stop of the day together was Greenwich. While our main stop was the Queen’s House at Greenwich Palace (full post coming later), we also spent a little time wandering outside because the weather was gorgeous. Although it was a bit of a steep hike up there, we finally went to the place you learn about in the fourth grade: Royal Observatory Greenwich!
If you have ever learned about longitude, latitude, or time zones, you have probably learned about the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The Prime Meridian passes through this spot, meaning that it is the home of Greenwich Mean Time. (A concept that 10 year old me didn’t grasp, as an inherent knowledge of made up lines on the globe is not in my wheelhouse…) Your timezone is probably defined as the number of hours you are from GMT!
The Royal Observatory Greenwich was established by King Charles II in 1675, with the spot being chosen by Sir Christopher Wren himself. Along with the creation of the Royal Observatory, Charles also created the position of Astronomer Royal. It remained the home of the Observatory until the mid twentieth century, when it moved to a few different sites. The current house is now a museum that you can visit! (Note: the Queen’s House that we visited is free, but you do need to pay an entrance fee to visit the Observatory museum.) In 2018, it also became an active observatory again, with the installation of the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope.
Although the hike is slightly strenuous, it is a paved walkway, and only takes 5ish minutes (10 max). You get to see some interesting views of the Observatory itself on the way up, and you can walk around a fair bit when you get up to the top. And then you are treated to a spectacular view as you look down over Greenwich Palace and the grounds. Plus, as you can see, the rest of London doesn’t look too shabby, either!!
Have you been to the Royal Observatory Greenwich yourself?
Cheers,
The Historian
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That walk nearly killed me XD One day I will pay to go inside! 🙂
I do want to go back to Greenwich, and wander around more- however, I think I will start with the Observatory and get the walk out of the way hahahaha. We did it at a pretty good pace, too!!