Shippity ship ship

A while back I visited Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum. The NMM is part of the Royal Naval College and fronted by a beautiful walkway along the Thames. The gorgeous Georgian architecture had me reeling with giddiness. I think at one point I may have attempted a caper.

Finding the museum itself was actually a little tough because the Cutty Sark, the main landmark, was all walled off for repairs. It's the last extant tea clipper, and it caught fire last year, so they've got to do some work on it. But eventually, I found the museum.

Here it is.

Most everything in the museum was arranged thematically. There'd be a fleet of figureheads, a scattering of sextants, an assemblage of instruments, etc. The museum played very heavily with natural lighting and crisp, clean lines.

As to be expected, with Britain being Britain, there was a large gallery dedicated to Lord Nelson and his belongings and paraphernalia.

This is Prince Frederick's state barge. It was one of my favourite pieces in the museum and very beautiful and luxurious: Every piece of metal on the boat was gold.

This is the... thing. From the HMS Implacable. I couldn't find a placard telling me the proper name for this thing, but rest assured, it's a very impressive thing.

These clear cases of weapons and instruments were in the 'upper deck' area of the museum. The whole thing was laid out like a ship, and it was really neat and very appropriate for what the museum is trying to convey. You really get a sense of maritime utility from the place- the propellers spin, the lighthouse mechanism focuses light, and feels very right.

One of the largest galleries was devoted to the progression of navigation and maritime recording. They had atlases from the 1500s, globes created by those who didn't know what Australia was, clocks from the 1800s, sextants that were legitimate pirate wreckage, all sorts of old diving equipment... and its modern equivalencies, which I couldn't photograph thanks to this huge group of German tourists that just would not move.

How old would you guess this is?

Would you believe that it's from the 1950s?

An equally large gallery was devoted to military non-weapons. Particularly fascinating were the ship miniatures presented to the admiralty before a ship was actually built. Each of these was handcrafted and rigged- just look at the knotwork. We rarely think of military trappings of today as beautiful, and with good reason; there's little elegance in the design of a tank, and no artistry in the gunmetal of an aircraft carrier. But the ships of the age of sail? Those were art.

The last gallery I had time for was a gallery about exploration- there were a lot of hands-on activites for kids, and diving helmets for us Bioshock fans.

One of the final pieces was this great big map all about the history of maritime trade. It had the major trade routes mapped out and samples of the goods that were moved from country to country, again emphasizing utility and promoting a greater understanding of what maritime history means.

The View From Nowhere

On Wednesday, I took the train to Greenwich. Greenwich is home to the Royal Observatory and, more famously, the Prime Meridian. I went up to the observatory towards the end of the day. To get there, I had to hike up a massive hill in Greenwich Park. It's a very nice park. We'll be seeing a lot of it next year- all the equestrian Olympic events will be taking place in the park. It's got a lot of woodland space. Corvids grok at you from the branches above, squirrels chatter, and dogs run with their masters.

Magpie is like the honey badger in that she just don't care. She's just walkin' around like she owns the place. I gave her a piece of my caramel slice.

That's London proper in the background there with a small part of the park stretching below.

This is the set of public standards. It was put there so anybody could come up and check how long something is.

This is the clock that keeps the world's time. Kinda neat, huh?

This is what the view is like from 0'0".

And an artsy behind-the-gate shot because I'm a dweeb like that.

The clock mechanism.

The planetarium.

The Observatory.

More of the park. I like that crow.

The Meridian Building, a building dedicated to, uh, being on the Prime Meridian.

In the UK, parks are made up of gardens. This one was on my way out. It's an herb garden and smells divine.

I've always wanted a formal garden like this, with little pathways and benches and hedgerows and stuff.

Where Norway has problems with motorcycles being jumped over cars, Greenwich has problems with rogue ice cream salesmen.

And... humped pelicans crossing the street? What? This wasn't even near the river... and there's no such thing as a Humped Pelican.

Humped Pelican=British for "Speed Bump." What the heck, England. What the heck.