Greenwich - view from Royal Observatory The view of Greenwich (on one of the few gray days I had) from the overlook outside the Old Royal Observatory. Off to the right is the Millenium Dome, a nifty piece of tent architecture, if you ask me. To the left of the Dome is a power plant, and the big white building down the hill is a private school. The bird in the foreground is known as a 'pigeon,' a feathered creature found in these parts.
2001.06.05-01
Greenwich - 24-hour clock Look closely: this clock has 24 hours on it. Curiously, the top number is 0, even though you'd think it would be 24. This clock shows the current Greenwich Mean Time, aka Universal Time, aka Zulu, aka one hour earlier than London time. Below the clock are several length standards: a British yard, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, and 3 inches.
2001.06.05-02
Greenwich - Millenium plaque Underwhelming event though it was, the Millenium started here at the Prime Meridian. This sign is a cheesy, but I like the way the PM is written: 00° 00' 00".
2001.06.05-03
Greenwich - GMT clock This clock shows the current Greenwich Mean Time to the one-hundredth second. Below it is the current world time: 2001.156.13.57.07.23 (when the picture was taken). You can also see Tim in the reflection.
2001.06.05-04
Greenwich - Ryan setting watch Of course, I took the opportunity to set my Swiss Army watch to the current GMT. It took me three tries, but I got it to within a second of accuracy (that is, my watch was off by less than 1 second). It's harder than it looks. (Actually, I set my watch an hour ahead of GMT, since London is an hour ahead.)
2001.06.05-05
Greenwich - Tim at the Prime Meridian Here's Tim standing exactly over 00° 00' 00", pointing to a Prime Meridian clock. Inside the Old Royal Observatory (behind Tim) is a truly excellent exhibit documenting the quest to find longitude, some of the geniuses who worked on the problem, and some jaw-droppingly cool longitude clocks from the 1800s through today. (You can see many of the same exhibit pieces in Dava Sobel's fine book Longitude.)
2001.06.05-06
Greenwich - Ryan at the Prime Meridian. Here's me standing directly over 00° 00' 00", pointing at the line that designates the Prime Meridian. I must say, it's pretty cool to be standing right over what is effectively the (vertical) center of the world. Second only maybe to Legoland, the Old Royal Observatory had the coolest stuff I saw on the trip.
2001.06.05-07
7 pictures >>> day 6-8...