The best of the rest in Greenwich

After our visit to the Cutty Sark, we headed to the really large park in Greenwich to have a quick look at what else was on offer.  By now it was almost dusk.  We found the worlds largest ship in a bottle behind the maritime museum.

 We were heading towards the Queens House.

 I love the contrast between the old and the new from this angle.

 But I really loved this old painting showing how it was before the area was built on.  Truly amazing.

 The staircase in the Queens House is quite famous - and very stunning!

 As is the main hall - a perfect cube.

 We didn't have time to look at all the art treasures that are housed here, but I found a couple of my faves.  A rare trip down south by LS Lowry to paint Deptford Power Station

 And an Alfred Wallis painting of St Ives.

 The next time we head down here, we will allocate at least 2 full days to Greenwich - so so much to see.  The Queens House was free entry by the way.

 We then raced up the hill towards the Royal Observatory - again, no time to visit inside, and I did over hear a lady saying she could have spent a full day in here.

 The Planetarium here is now the only Planetarium in London.

 The reason we had raced up the hill was to have our photograph taken (by a very kind Italian) by the actual Meridian Line.  A place that has been on my "list" since I was about 10 years old.

 You get a decent view from up here too.  Being in Greenwich certainly does not feel like you are in a big city - the river and the park give it an almost rural feel.  We saw around 4 Parakeets flying around the park too.

 A quick dash back past the Maritime Museum (also free to enter, and it looked pretty fab as I peeked through the window), and back on the Docclands Light Railway to Stratford and the Westfield Centre where we had parked the car.

 By this time it was around 5pm and totally mental in the centre, so we found our car and sadly left.

 I really wished we had booked 2 nights, but we had planned something for Sunday, so it was time to head.

I really enjoyed our impromptu trip and I'm desperate to explore this area of London again.  On the Friday night, we had strayed into Hackney Wick before the Basketball match, and near the River Lea (London's 2nd river) which I am keen to explore more of.