Water

It covers 2/3 of the planet ... and today it covered 100% of me.   

Water seemed to be the overarching theme for today's field trip.  We started our day with a lazy ride up the River Thames to the town of Greenwich.  The gentle rocking of the boat, coupled with constant hum of the boat engines and beautiful scenery scrolling by made for a lovely ride.  I'm used to being surrounded by water, so I felt closer to home on the boat, than I have in days.

As soon as we reached our destination, we started our hike up to the Royal Observatory, only to be met by this:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's POURING.  Ironically, I just finished telling one of my friends that we've had nothing but sunshine.  However, I am thankful that we have had such beautiful weather because I heard that the weather here can be quite unpredictable.  If I had access to old pictures, I would post a picture of me dancing in the rain.  I would have been doing the same today, but the idea of walking around in wet jeans for the next eight hours turned me off of that idea.

The Prime Meridian was our prime reason for visiting Greenwich.  It was neat being able to be in two hemispheres at once:

But, this confused me:

Time has a home?

~~~~~~~~

I actually had an "aha" moment in the National Maritime Museum, which we visited after lunch.  I passed display case after display case of navigational equipment that were used by British sailors.

I'm sure that British sailors were wonderful at navigating.  However, my mind kept reverting to my lessons in Hawaiian Studies.  Ancient Hawaiian navigators set out on the vast Pacific Ocean without any sort of tools or equipment to assist them.  They would use the sky, ocean currents, and wind to help them find their way.  I find it completely amazing, what can be done by listening to Mother Nature.  If you'd like to read more about ancient Hawaiian navigation, click here.  It is very interesting. 

~~~~~~

Trafalgar Square was our last stop for the day.  Although it is kind of a stretch on the whole water theme, check out the awesome fountains:

Trafalgar Square is home to the National Gallery, which houses scores of beautiful paintings.  Although my art history experience stops at Art 100, I was still able to appreciate the gorgeous pieces being displayed.  Short on time, I visited the works I knew by sight - particularly those of Van Gough, Gauguin, and Seurat.  As cliche and over-seen as it is, my favorite painting had to have been Van Gough's Sunflowers.  Call me unoriginal, but it's the story that really got me.  Apparently, Van Gough painted these pictures for his dear friend, Gaugin.  Although Van Gough lived a very difficult and sad life, Gauguin visited his home.  Sunflowers was painted and put up in Gauguin's room because Van Gough associated the color yellow with happiness and friendship.  A bit of light in an otherwise gloomy life.

~~~~~~

I leave you with that warm, happy story and bid you a goodnight.  Tomorrow I leave the depths of the ocean and soar to the sky - we're flying kites at Regent's Park.  You bet I'm going Mary Poppins on you!