A southern girl moves to London: Greenwich and a Drive in the Countryside

We started off our weekend adventure on the tube from our closest station, Vauxhall, on the Victoria line. It is literally just on the corner of our street.

We took the tube to Waterloo and walked over toward the waterfront, at the base of the London Eye, to catch the ferry to Greenwich. The waterfront was bustling - there were street performers and lots of activity.

Waterloo Station

One of the street performers

I had the gang pose by the waterfront with Big Ben behind them. Olivia said, "Look, It's Big Ben!" and Sophia said, "I thought it would be bigger." They crack me up. My friend, Perry, reminded me that although Americans typically call the tower Big Ben - that isn't accurate. The bell inside the tower is Big Ben. The tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee two years ago.

We caught the ferry and took it to Greenwich. It was a pretty trip, and fairly quick, and a bargain at only about 5 1/2 pounds each for Chris and I and just under 4 pounds for the girls.

We walked past the Cutty Sark, and then walked around the streets of Greenwich before going to the Greenwich Market for lunch. We walked all around the market before deciding on eating a Gallette. I have to say that I didn't think it was all that special. We decided to go up to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich before coming back to the market for dessert.

"A false balance is abomination to the Lord

But a just weight is his delight"

- sign on the wall of the Greenwich market

Finally, I found some Italian Sausage

Paella! As we returned to the market from our hike up to the Royal Observatory, I decided to have this for dessert - it was incredible!

proper? As opposed to what?

The view from the Royal Observatory was really great, as it sits on a hill and you can see the Canary Wharf area of London (where Chris works).

For the record, The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time, and home of the Prime Meridian of the World. It is also home to London's only planetarium, and the Harrison Timekeepers, and the UK's largest refracting telescope.

Also for the record, Chris's watch was set perfectly in time before we arrived ;)

We returned to the city by way of the DLR (Dockland's Light Railway) and stopped off in Canary Wharf to see where Chris works. Sadly, I didn't get a picture (hard to believe when it seems like I photograph everything)! But, I will get one another time, I promise.

We took the tube to Bond Street Station on Oxford Street and did a little shopping before returning home for the day. I took a picture of a little shop, and of Selfridges, one of my favorite department stores.

On Sunday, we decided to get out of town. We took a drive out of London to Royal Tunbridge Wells, and really drove some country roads into a few smaller villages.

We saw sheep!

And we stopped in a small town for a late lunch at a Pub. First we had a pint at this one, then ended up having lunch at one down the road (we had to check them all out)!