London – Day 1

I’ve visited London several times over the years. In fact I graduated from an American High School in London, London Central High School. But, before today I had never been to Greenwich.

This morning we had a chilly but enjoyable walk from our hotel near the British Museum to the boat docks on the Thames by Westminster.

We took a Thames tourist boat down to Greenwich.

We briefly visited the Maritime Museum

Then we toured St Alfege Church. We learned lots of interesting tidbits. Alfege was Archbishop of Canterbury. He was killed by marauding Danes who were camped in Greenwich in 1012. The church was built where he was killed. It is believed that Henry VIII was baptized there. During the Blitz in 1941 over 1000 bombs and incendiary devices were dropped on Greenwich. Two of them went through the roof and badly damaged the church.

We also get to visit the crypt. When the bombs hit the church there were more than 100 people sheltering in the crypt. It was so strong that no one was hurt.

We took the bus back from Greenwich. The 188 bus route ended right around the corner from our hotel.

For dinner we went to a nearby pub, The Swan. We had fish and chips and steak and ale pie. It was so much fun to be in a London pub!! I especially liked the mushy peas and mint..