Greenwich: Thames River Cruise and Royal Observatory

     On Friday, January 14 we took the Thames River Cruise to Greenwich which is where the Royal Observatory was located.  I sat on the top deck of the boat where I took pictures of everything along the shoreline.  It was interesting to see all the places we went in relation to each other and their distance from the river, however I felt this would have been a nice opening to our trip than a conclusion.  My favorite part was when we passed under the Tower London Bridge; we all got some great pictures out of that.  In Greenwich, we went to the Royal Observatory which is located up on a hill in a huge park near the National Maritime Museum.  I liked this sculpture of two dolphins outside the Observatory that turned out to be a sundial.  The line of the shadow from the sun that the tips of their tails make tell what time it is, and it is called The Dolphin Sundial.  Once inside, it was interesting to see all the old instruments that were used for navigation and time keeping, and some were interactive.  On a large pendulum there was a button that if you pushed it, it's steady sound changed to what it would be like on a moving ship and that is why it was inaccurate for sailing.  I most excited to stride the Prime Meridian that was right outside on the terrace.  I thought it was going to be more obvious because at first I walked right past it, but I couldn't believe I was standing on the line that measures all other longitudes and time zones.  I was even more excited to see New York's longitude listed along side the others!