Yesterday morning my trip-mates and I worked our way down to the Embankment stop on the tube. There, we met Lori, our professor, her daughter and daughter's friend that flew to London with us, and her husband, older daughter, and young son, who had just arrived in London. We boarded a member of the Thames Clipper fleet of Thames river boats. Our boat took us past the Millennium Bridge, the Eye of London, the Tate Modern Museum, the Tower Bridge and Westminster Palace. We disembarked at Greenwich.
The view from the dock.
"Going up!"
"I see you!"
"I've got a brige in London I'll sell ya."
"You got the time?"
[UPDATED] Nice place, huh?
At Greenwich, we visited the Royal Observatory from which you can see The Queen's house.
We actually saw a pair of Asian tourists do it first, so it's okay.
We also took photos of each other standing along the Prime Meridian.
After our trip to the Royal Observatory, we were set loose on Greenwich. The town of Greenwich was a welcome reprieve from the sirens, honking horns, and shouts of Central London which, as I write this, are clearly audible even from our 5th story flat. The small shops that line the narrow sidewalks remind me of Cambridge, Massachusetts. There was a children's game store, a record shop that sold actual vinyl records, and a great little clothing shop called Meet Bernard that sold jackets from the Pennfield, Massachusetts brand Penfield. A fun place, indeed.
Really?
We rode the Docklands Light Rail home from Greenwich. The DLR is an Overground train. Travelling outside gave us a chance to see some different architecture, more distant boroughs of London, and as you can gather from the photo above, one of the best named stations in whole of rail travel. Or at least that's what we thought until we discovered that there is a station called Cockfosters on the Piccadilly line. Enough childish humor for now.
Moving on to this morning's activities.
Frozen in time.
This, good friends, is the founder of University College of London, Jeremy Bentham. He requested that he be preserved forever in a way that was accessible to the students and public. That's right. His skeleton is perfectly preserved under those clothes, gloves, and strikingly handsome knee socks.
The head, however, is a wax replica. Mr. Bentham's head decomposed so much that it looked like the Crypt Keeper. The original head is stored in the UCL vault. A photograph next to the display illustrates just how much a head can decay before it needs to be replaced. I didn't think anyone would want to see it, so I didn't take a picture of it. I'm sure you understand.
All of us together!
The purpose of our visit to UCL was not to see a permanently open casket. We met David Rosenblum, one of the most famous software engineers in the world and a professor at UCL. Dr. Rosenblum explained the British system of higher education and how funding for projects works for graduate research. The British government is very involved and greatly encourages and supports academic research.
Brits are given the option to finish school at the age of 16. Some elect to continue their education at what they call colleges. The American equivalent of British college is the junior and senior year of high school. At the end of college, students take their A-level exams which help place them in college. Those students that do not attend college often choose to enter a trade program.
After our visit to UCL, we made a stop at Sainesbury for lunch supplies. I cooked lunch for a few of my flatmates. We saw a protest taking place along Southampton Row, the street on which our flats are located. I will post the video tomorrow from the UD University Centre.
[UPDATED] A protest!
More from me soon. I'm off to do my reading for class tomorrow!
Cheers,
Eric
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