Went to the Royal Observatory today. You know, the place where they store the Prime Meridian? Right now, I'm 6 hours ahead of my home town, which translates to roughly 90° of longitude (at 15° per hour). It's in Greenwich, as in Greenwich Mean Time, at the top of a very, very, very steep hill. About halfway up, I was beginning to think that John Flamsteed, the first Royal Astronomer, was just a jerk that the King wanted out of the way.
Now, I have to admit that this was one of the big things I wanted to do upon coming to London; it's a touristy thing, sure, but there is a reason why these things become touristy things. That being said, I perfectly understand why someone would say, "Why the hell are you paying 7 pounds (!) so you can climb up a big hill and have your picture taken standing on a line?" There were fifty-some people, most of whom were high schoolers from Spain, irritating the bejeesuz out of me, the first time I've really been irritated by fellow tourists since I've been here. I asked the kid behind to take my picture on the prime meridian, and he proceeded to zoom in on my face. I could have been sitting in my living room, for all anyone knew. But then again, I guess I wasn't specific.
I also hit the National Maritime Museum, the highlight of which is the gallery of Admiral Nelson memorabilia. The uniform in which he died at Trafalgar is located there. Pretty darn cool, that one was. Nearby Greenwich Market was this store called...wait for it...Meet Bernard, which is a men's shop for casual wear. I really wanted to get a shirt from there, but short-sleeved shirts there were running 75 pounds ($120). Yikes. The ones on sale were 25. Yikes x 2. MEET BERNARD!
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