I finally braved it – the London Eye! Don’t like heights, see – I was fine except for the odd occasion I made the mistake of looking down! It was a spur of the moment decision, since we had tickets for a river cruise sailing from Greenwich to Westminster and wasn’t sure how much time we’d have once there. The queue for tickets was longer than the queue to ‘fly’ but we were quickly through both – impressive for a busy Sunday afternoon on the South Bank. And it was well worth it, with Matt’s reaction: “It’s amaaaaazing! This is the best day of my life!” We had a little wander along both banks, taking in the street artists – watch out for the Charlie Chaplin juggler, clever and funny, before heading back to Greenwich, accompanied by a hilarious commentary from a crewman of the City Cruise boat – who does it out of the goodness of his heart as I’m-not-a-proper-tour-guide-but-if-you-found-me-informative-and-funny-please-show-your-appreication-in-the-champagne-bucket-at-the-end!
Back at Greenwich we had time to explore, as I’d overloaded the car park machine somewhat, just in case. I’d forgotten how completely beautiful Greenwich Park is – either that, or I’d failed to notice when I lived on its doorstep. Being able to wander through the foot tunnel during the school lunch break was a given, and it was just another somewhere to hang around at the weekend.
If you want a day out at hardly any expense, Greenwich is the place to go. Cost me a tenner to park all day, possibly there are cheaper car parks (we’ll try the almost empty university one opposite the park next time) BUT – The National Maritime Museum = Free; The Queen’s House = Free; The Royal Observatory = Free! The beautiful park itself = free! No need for booking, wake up, see it’s a nice day and off you go. You don’t even need a picnic – there’s an M&S Simply Food at one end of the main road and one in the BP garage at the other end! And if you can’t resist shopping, the indoor market is an experience in itself. Only one piece of advice for you: Trainers! And maybe do the Observatory first, before you’re tired :-)
