Greenwich, the British Music Experience and tryin' a little tenderness

Another late night, but this time the blog comes before bed.

When we finally crawled out of a deep sleep this morning (following yesterday's Paris excursion) we made our way to Westminster Bridge and caught a boat down the Thames...

...to Greenwich.

What a place. We both loved it out there, maybe partly because it reminded us of being in the countryside and smaller, picturesque villages. Naturally we visited the Greenwich Observatory, which has wonderful views down to the Maritime Museum and Canary Wharf in the background...

...and squirrels frolicking everywhere. We sought out and found the markings for the Prime Meridian so that each of us could have a picture of ourselves with one foot east and the other west. What a tourist hoot.

After walking back down the hill, we took a bus to North Greenwich and "The O2", a large entertainment complex...

Inside this is the British Music Experience which is an interactive exhibition of all things relating to British Popular Music. Phil headed straight for the area where visitors can play various Epiphone guitars (proving he hasn't forgotten how after so many weeks away from it), drum kits, and keyboard, and can re-mix Queen's Radio Ga Ga (Phil turned everything off except the guitar). Petra went straight to the display of memorabilia from various periods, and Phil soon joined her. Petra was a bit peeved that there was hardly any Elton John stuff, but Phil was blown away by an old guitar owned by Pete Townsend (completely smashed to pieces at one of The Who's shows) and some of David Bowie's stage costumes.

As time was now getting on, we went back to Greenwich and cruised back up the river the way we had come, this time accompanied by some very entertaining commentary provided by one of the members of the crew. We had never before speculated what Big Ben would be called if its designer had been named Richard rather than Benjamin.

Back at our rooms we immediately had to get ourselves ready to go out for dinner and a West End show, The Commitments. A decent feed and a great show, particularly the music. Phil decided that he'll need to convince his band to bring soul to the people of Canberra.

Phil got us lost again coming back from the theatre, but luckily Petra's sense of direction got us home OK.