Greenwich

When you have the chance to stand in 2 hemispheres at once you should most definitely do so.  We spent the day there recently and had a bunch of fun learning about time, telescopes, astronomy as well as discovering that there are parrots here! We were totally floored to see the trees filled with these large green birds. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting a decent picture. Might have had something to do with the birds and leaves basically being the same color.

In addition to the Royal Observatory, we looked around the Old Royal Naval Academy including it's beautiful Painted Halls--quite possibly one of the most extravagant dining halls ever. We couldn't take pictures of that but it was truly amazing.  Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I were also born there.

We had a lovely chat with two police officers, and that's not a euphemism for anything. They were genuinely nice gents with some very helpful information including what all the cops call their traditional  'bobby' hats.

We had hoped to arrive in time to see the 'ball' drop. We weren't entirely sure what that meant, other than we knew that it happened at 1pm and was something we shouldn't miss. We did miss it. In part because our boat was a little late and also because we were looking for something much larger and closer to the river where it could easily be seen. 

After all that fun, it was time to stand on either side of the Prime Meridian. You have to pay to go through the museum to stand where it says 'Prime Meridian,' which seems kind of silly considering you can line yourself up just about anywhere and have one foot in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. But if you don't pay you don't to stand in front of the cool sculpture or one the bronze line. We paid, and other than wanting to punch some obnoxious German teenagers who took way too much time, it was the highlight of my day. Yes, I do know I have a geeky streak.

After taking the above photo we went and touched a really old rock. Actually, it's a chunk of meteorite and is about 4.5 billion years old. I love that it's not behind some ropes or glass and that touching is encouraged. When I asked if we could, they looked at me like I was nuts and said 'of course, please do!' I love that!