London - Starting at Zero

ZERO - Where Time Begins

Greenwich meantime - GMT.  Now be honest.  Where do you imagine this is located? And how do you think its location was determined; possibly some sophisticated, unique astronomical determinant? Well, as a long time boater, engineer and history buff, this question has been occupying Captain Steve into the wee hours.  Imagine our surprise to discover that a quick ride on the Thames fast ferry, exiting at the Greenwich Pier, walking up the hill to the Royal Observatory and you’re there!


Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) defines time for the world. Talk about drawing a definitive line, GMT is actually the orange line you see above. It’s the world’s prime meridian line, located at Longitude 0, 0’, 0” and Latitude 51, 28’, 38”. When the sun is at its highest exactly above the prime meridian, it’s 12 noon on the Shepherds Gate Clock, the name of the 24-clock showing GMT, which  is located at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, a borough of London England.

The  concept of GMT began in the 15th century to aid navigators in finding the “New World”. In 1675 the race to create accurate navigational maps was formally launched by King Charles II (pictured far left) when he gave land to the Royal Society for Britain’s first National Observatory; designed by the famous British architect Christopher Wren. The building and its dome are in place to this day. Over the next two centuries,  competitions ensued to make clocks more predictable and map makers began to set latitude. Finally on November 1,1884 GMT was universally adopted and the international date line, as well as a 24 hour time zone established. To put this into perspective, at that time there were over 300 local times in the United States alone. 

ONE - Iconic Sporting Event

There is only ONE Wimbledon, with its iconic purple, green and white colored logo.  The  first Wimbledon Championship was held in 1877 on a croquet lawn of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. In 1884 a woman’s championship was introduced.  Good thing, or we wouldn’t have been able to see Serena Williams play Giulia Gato-Montiocne on a very warm July 2nd.  That was after Rodger Federer played  Lloyd Harris on Central Court.  It was very thoughtful of Kate and  Carmella to save us seats in the Royal box! 

TWO - Teams Worth Worth Traveling For

So what prompted this trip to London you might ask. Have you heard of the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry, arguably the most combustible in baseball? Well, if your boys were flying across the ocean to play the first ever regular MLB season games in Europe against “the evil,empire”, what choice would you have but to follow along?

So there we were at London Stadium, in Stratford in northeast London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at what was originally the 2012 track and field venue, now the home of the West Ham United Football Club - soccer to us Americans.  

 Nearly 60,000 fans packed both games, including Prince Harry with his American wife Meghan Markle,  now the Duchess of Sussex. There was fantastic pageantry with oversized country flags and dueling national anthems sung.  First pitches thrown, British little leaguers showed their stuff and the games commenced.  Take Me Out to the Ball Game was interspersed with God Bless America and, of course, Sweet Caroline for the Boston crowd.  Yankees ended up winning both games, but that didn’t deter cheers from Sox fans, who were disproportionality represented.  The sea of red would indicate that nearly half were Boston fans - which is amazing when you consider that Boston is a city of about 650 thousand and New York a city of over 8 million.  Goooo Sox!!!

THREE - Bridges out of 33

There are 33 London Bridges - here is three of our favorites from this trip. 

Millennium Bridge, which opened in June of 2,000. It’s a 1,000 foot long pedestrian footbridge that connects Christopher Wren’s iconic St Paul’s Cathedral with the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre - or The City of London with Bankside.  Londoners nicknamed it the Wobbly Bridge after experiencing a slight swaying at its initial opening.  It’s since been fixed and yes, there are other ways to get across the Thames, but a wander across the Millenium Bridge is so much more memorable!

The Tower Bridge was built in 1894 and is located near the Tower of London.  The bascule design is 801 feet long with a 230 foot span that can be raised up and down as high as 139 feet, allowing  ships to access the port facilities at the Pool of London, between London Bridge (that’s next) and the Tower of London. On average it opens twice daily. 

London Bridge did actually fall down, or was pulled down several times during its history.  The first was a wood structure built by the Romans. In Medieval times it was replaced by a stone bridge and then another stone arched bridge in the 19th century. The current concrete and steel version was opened to traffic in 1973.  

FOUR - Performances Worth Searching For

What would a visit to London be without taking in its live theatre? Tickets or free, it’s all there for the taking!

Charlie Chaplin has taken up residence at an outside space at Covent Garden.  We saw him in 2012 down near the Tate. Charlie’s only gotten better!   Tina is one of the best of its genre and currently one of London’s most popular theatre offerings. By the end, your absolutely guaranteed to be on your feet and singing!  The Lehman Trilogy is as much about the immigration story as it is the history of the rise - and fall - and rise - okay and the challenges  of capitalism. As fascinating as the story, is the simple set design and versatility of its three actors who play multiple characters without changing costumes.  Definitely one to see.  And then there’s the live music. 

London truly has something for all tastes and walllets. 

FIVE - Museums Worth a Wander

Museum shows can be a tepid in the summer, but not so in London. There  are a couple of annual summer shows that you absolutely won’t want to miss! And London Art Week keeps venues opened on Sundays, with opening parties and visiting artists at many of the galleries near St James.  

1. The National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait Award - showcases 44 diverse and exceptional work selected from 2,538 international entries done in a wide variety of mediums and considerd anonymously by the judges, is in its 30th year.  Catch it between mid June and October. And it’s free! The National Portrait Gallery has the most extensive portrait collection in the world, with 215,000 works, spanning the 16th century to the present day.

2. The National Gallery - Has an exceptional collection of Flemish and Dutch art among its 2,300 pieces that date from 1250 through  the 1900’s.  The collection has three of Johannes Vermeer's 35 paintings completed in the mid to late 1600’s, known for his simple composition  and ability to capture minute reflected light.

3. The Royal Academy of Arts also has an annual juried show of 1,500 pieces called The Summer Exhibition, Rooms are organized by themes set by the show curators. All of the pieces are for sale, so bring your checkbook.  Note the red dots on this perennial favorite Stolen Thunder (The Final) by a a Camelia Parker. There’s a story there.  

4. The National Maratime Museum is the world’s largest maritime museum. What stands out is the truly state-of- the-art interactive exhibitions that covers an exceptionally broad array of topics from new world to arctic explorations. Give it a try.  Truly.  We liked it so much, we became members so that we could go back for more.

5. Old Royal Naval Academy 

The building itself was designed by, you guessed it, Christopher Wren.  But you want to come here to see the Sistine Chapel of the United Kingdom. Measuring over 43,00 square feet, no picture can do this oil paint on plaster justice. Sir James Thornhill painted this ode celebrating the English Monarchy over a 19 year period beginning in 1705. The ceiling recently went through a 2-year renovation that cost nearly 11-million US Dollars and reopened in March of 2019.