Feeling Prime?

Ship in a bottle at the National Maritime Museum

Today we traveled to Greenwich (spoken like gren-itch) to check out the National Maritime Museum, Cutty Sark and the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory.  Our day started off with a bit of excitement as we teach our suburb-living, car-riding kids to cross the street with care but we made it safely to the bus, then the train.

National Maritime Museum

Greenwich seems like a really nice town.  We quickly made our way to the Maritime Museum since it was raining, in hopes we could wait it out there.  It was another good museum.  There was information about the East India Trading Company, Admiral Horatio Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar, and of course marine navigation.  There was a great play room for the little kids so they spent their morning playing while I watched them and Hyrum took the older kids to look around and then we switched places.

Anchors Away!

Ben and Spencer livin' it up in the maritime play room.

Charlotte playing under the sea!

On the second floor there was a large map on the ground.  The kids enjoyed pretending they were swimming in the oceans.  We talked about the Prime Meridian and the International Dateline and Hyrum and Jonathan took in the war history and the upper interactive display.  They had a lot of interactive displays, like one on making curry, and it was informative and engaging.  I think everyone found something they could appreciate.

Lanterns hanging from the ceiling. 

After a couple of hours there we headed outside to a beautiful day.  The rain had cleared and we made our way to Greenwich park for a picnic before going to the Prime Meridian.  The kids enjoyed watching the dogs playing in the park while we ate.  As we finished Hyrum, Hannah, Jonathan and Spencer went to find the Prime Meridian down where we were with the GPS.  They found it!

Going to find the Prime Meridian!

They found it.

We hiked up the hill to the Royal Observatory and toured the house.  We took our pictures at the Prime Meridian.  It was fascinating to learn about how and why the observatory came to be and why it is important.  One interesting thing we learned about was a watchmaker named John Harrison.  He was trying to solve the problem of keeping time at sea.  Pendulum clocks didn't work because of the rocking and swaying motion of the sea.  After 4 tries and decades of work he succeeded in making the chronometer which lays the foundation for modern precision time pieces.

Royal Observatory

The kid are in two hemispheres at once.

Time ball on the observatory.

After that we went to the Astronomy Center and looked and participated in several displays about the stars and space.  The kids really enjoyed that stop.  Afterwards it was back down to the river for our last stop.  We boarded the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper from the days of the British tea trade with China.  It is mostly intact with original boards and supports.  There were a lot of interactive displays and things for the kids to do.  It was a great stop to make.

Cutty Sark

It was a full day but it was a good day with our family.  We came home the way we'd left and got tuck in a bit of  traffic jam about a mile from our flat.  We hurried through dinner, bathes and our Sabbath preparations.  I was so grateful for a happy, good and full day last night when I went to bed.  I love this family of mine and I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Upper deck of the Cutty Sark, looking skyward.