A trip to London Sea Life Aquarium and Greenwich Royal Observatory : 19-Jun-2010

Our trip journey continues today.. We started @ 8.30 in the morning and reached Stratford by national rail @ 9.00 am. We boarded the train to Waterloo @ 9.40. The jubilee line in Stratford station has a rich and new look compared to the other lines.

This trip was more interesting , as couple of Sathish's colleagues with their family joined us. The total number was 9 including kids, Prithvi (age 5), Bharath (age 4) and Surya(age 1). So, it was fun all the way in train and we reached our destination point Waterloo @ 10.30 am.

Sea life aquarium

Sea life aquarium is very close to the London eye. In fact, it was managed by the same Merlin entertainment that operates the London Eye. I was not very much excited about this trip , as I am not much fascinated by aquariums. But this one was quite different. The arrangement was like that of a tunnel and some of the fish tanks were so tall and huge that it spanned across many levels of the aquarium. This helped in getting a view of the fishes from different angles, which made it more interesting. It also gave the feel of touching the fish directly when we touched the glass. So, the kids were too scared to touch the glass.

When we were enjoying seeing the colorful fishes in one side of the tank, we felt something fishy (!!) on the other side. A giant sized lobster, which was almost hiding under the rock, started moving. Then , there were lot of colorful sea anemones and star fish , which were really beautiful.

Then came the Ray fish , which is a type of bat fish but was huge in size. It was looking very normal until we saw its back closer. For a moment, i got frightened.. it was looking like a white ghost in the movie 'Jagan mogini'.

Just contrary to this was the Jelly fish, which still lingers in my mind. As the tank was illuminated with colored lights that kept changing colours, the fish looked awesome. It was too good to be described in words and we did not feel like moving to the next.. I was reminded of the shiny and glowing creatures shown in 'Avatar' movie. When I saw the movie, I thought those creatures were animated ones but now have a feeling that they could be real.

Next were the biggies, sharks and the big Ray fishes. The sharks were really big and about 10 ft long. It looked very shiny but the fact is, its skin is so rough like a salt paper. As we saw them very close from different angles and from different floors, Surya kutty also enjoyed and started making ooh aah sounds.

We moved on to some colorful ones as shown in the movie 'Finding Nemo'. There were some funny looking fishes like the giraffe faced fish and the stone fish. The stone fish exactly looked liked a stone. It was hard to believe it to be a fish, until it made some movements. The stone and sand arrangements were such that it resembled exactly as the fish colours... Sea horses and turtles were also nice to watch.

Finally , it was time to move out. The only disappointment was that there were no dolphins and dolphin shows. But, overall we enjoyed the aquarium.

We got hungry.. so we went to the Subway to have a quick lunch. After lunch, came the exciting part for the kids.. boat ride to Greenwich. Boat is another means of transport for London. We got the tickets and boarded the boat. The seats inside the boat were just like in an airplane and there were few seats outside just open to sky. We took the outer ones for sight seeing. The boat was going so fast, that it splashed water on us. As it was a windy day, we felt very cold. London's weather is very unpredictable. It is very hot on one day and the very next day it swings to the other extreme. Even the forecasts are not very accurate. So, it is always better to go out with winter clothing and an umbrella.

Prime Meridian

Finally we reached Greenwich Royal observatory... This houses the Greenwich mean time and prime meridian , which separates the East from the West just like the equator separates the North and the South.

The Observatory was mainly built to improve navigation at sea and 'find the so-much desired longitude of places' – one's exact position east and west – while at sea and out of sight of land, by astronomical means. King Charles II appointed John Flamsteed as his first Astronomer Royal in March 1675, who did his research here. Finding the longitude @ sea proved to be a major challenge in those days and due to which there were many disasters in sea. Finally the clock invented by John Harrison to find the local time @ sea helped in calculating the longitude , which changed navigation forever. The clocks by Harrison were in display and the longitude /latitude calculations and different time zones of different countries based on longitude were displayed and explained.

We had to wait in a long queue to take a photo on the line with one foot on the Eastern and another on western hemisphere.

Telescopes and clocks used in ancient times to measure time and longitude were present. Dolphin sundial is one. There are 2 dolphins facing each other and the exact location where their tail end of the fins shadows meet give the actual time.. We checked the time and oh yeah.. it was accurate.

If you have a thirst for astronomical science , this observatory is a must visit for you. There are also other museums and parks in the surroundings.

As it started raining , we could not sit in the nearby park. So, we headed straight to East Ham for our dinner. We chose East Ham as this is the place where there are many South Indian restaurants. We took a train to Canary Wharf from Greenwich, from where we took the Jubilee line to West ham. Unfortunately trains to East ham got cancelled suddenly. So, we had to take 2 buses to reach East ham. By the time we reached East ham it was already 8 pm. We chose Ananda Bhavan as our restaurant for dinner as suggested by our friends. We had South Indian Buffet meal that was good except for the rice, which felt semi cooked. One thing , I wanted to highlight here is the food in London. When I was in the US, I used to yearn for Dosas and other Indian food, as it was very rare to find any Indian restaurant. In fact, many Indian vegetables are a rare find in the US markets. However, the situation could be different now as it was a long time back. But, here in London, there are many Indian restaurants and all veggies are available. So, I really don't miss any Indian food here.

After dinner , we took buses to reach home @ 10 pm. As we got very tired, we drifted to sleep immediately.

See you again with more trip experience...........

My first London trip : 22-May-2010

It was a Saturday afternoon and Sathish suddenly said we shall go around London. Initially we had planned for the city tour the following week after taking London pass ( a pass with entrance tickets for various attractions in London).

We started around 2 in the afternoon. I topped up my Oyster card with £10. Oyster card is a pre-paid card for using public transportation in London, using which one can add money to it and use it like a train cum bus pass which has to be swiped in the bus and in the train station entrance. The advantage is it, that it has a per day ceiling amount. Even if we travel many times per day ,the maximum we will be charged in the card would be 3.9£ in bus and 6.3£ in train. As travel is very expensive in London, everyone goes for Oyster card as it provides easy access to train/bus without having to buy a ticket and with a reduced price.

It was my first train journey in London and I was really excited travelling in the underground tube. I was initially confused with the different lines (district line/circle line/picadilly line etc) that goes to different directions but could differentiate it later with the color coding used. One can use a tube map to go anywhere without having to ask anyone. But the major problem is random train cancellations (this is because of the various renovations happening in London as a preparation for the 2012 Olympics in London). So , we have to really watch out for the active lines before boarding train. All routes are interconnected. So, one can easily reach their destination, even if they take a longer route.
We crossed Stratford, where the stadium for the Olympics is getting constructed. Massive construction..It would be a lifetime experience if we get a chance to watch Olympics..

We alighted in Aldgate East to take a district line for Tower hill and reached tower hill to see the Tower of London and the Tower bridge (There is a misconception that Tower bridge is the London bridge but it is not true. London bridge is a old bridge opposite to tower bridge and it is a normal bridge). It was a huge bridge above Thames river and tourists throng the place. There was a big queue for the river cruise. But the water was not clear. (One shocking thing for me about London is the cleanliness. People litter and spit on the streets. But there are lot of greenery's everywhere with lot of parks and gardens). Tower of London is riverside fortress , usually remembered as a place of imprisonment. Many princes and queens were imprisoned here and later murdered.

As it was a hot summer day which is most awaited in a cold country , people had dressed up so freely (so we had a good sight seeing :-)). Sathish clicked lot of snaps as usual and Prithvi started asking for something to eat. So we had cone ice creams and it was yummy (6 pounds - 480 rs is really expensive for ice cream.. isn't it.?. as it is only 2 weeks for me in London, cannot avoid converting).

We took another train to reach Westminster (most of the main attractions in London are close by.. with just few trains and of course lot of walking we can cover all important attractions.). We came out of Westminster station to see a tall building .. oh. yeah it is the Big Ben . In all our movies, this is how London is shown. Big Ben is the huge clock tower and is part of the Houses of parliament. Looking at the building, we can understand how well it is maintained as it looks really new though it is built 1000 yrs ago.

Walking along Big Ben to the left in the opposite is the 'London eye'. As i said, we had a separate plan for visiting these places, we did not go inside but just had a glimpse from outside. 'London eye' is the giant observation wheel and is the second highest in the world and offers fascinating views over the whole of London.

If you walk to the right of Westminster, you will reach the Westminster Abbey. This is a old church and it serves as a place of Royal ceremonials. Princess Diana's funeral was held here.

A few minutes walk from there will take you to the royal palace of Buckingham, which is the the Queen's residence. It is a huge palace with complete security protection. 'Guards change' is an event here, in which the palace guards, in their red tunics and tall bearskin hats, are changed at 11am each morning. We were almost exhausted by that moment and wanted to relax. So, we went to James park close to Buckingham palace. There are several parks and gardens around the palace. We had a good time there. Prithvi played foot ball with a cute Brit gal and we enjoyed sightseeing (only the garden ), having tea that we took in a flask.

After few minutes rest, we continued to Trafalgar square. This houses the huge monuments of Nelson and other warriors , who fought and won the battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon.The main structure worth seeing at Trafalgar square is the tall Nelson's column, which is a tower over which Admiral Nelson stands.

Another 10 mins walk, we reached Picadily circus. It is a shopping place and there are lot of clubs and bars everywhere. It seems, day never ends here. We can see Britain's richness here.
Suddenly, bell rang in our bellies.. oops.. It is 8.30. As day is long in summer, one can hardly realize the time. So, we hunted for a food place and reached Pizza hut. Myself and Sathish had the only veggie option available but Prithvi enjoyed chicken wings. It was 9.30 by the time we finished dinner and took the trains to reach home @ 10.30. Overall, it was a wonderful day !!!

More to come..............