The coach made good time and we arrived in Greenwich at 10.15

We  alighted at the Cafe Rouge and had a cup of coffee to set us up for the day.

Telephone boxes with wonderful bedding

Entrance to the market

St Alfege's Church

Alfege was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1005-1012, a time of enormous upheaval, when the struggle between Anglo Saxon Kings and the invaders was at a particularly violent pitch.   He was captured in Canterbury, taken prisoner by the Vikings and held for ransom - a ransom which he refused to be paid as he didn’t want to put a burden on the poor people in his own diocese.

Cutty Sark

Stipa elegantissima part of the prairie planting by the Thames

Fence by Thames

Cutty Sark from the bow

A notice on the 'sea' surrounding the hull.   Climbing on the glass did not look a very possible or attractive proposition

Prairie plantings

View of the Thames from Greenwich Pier

The entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel

View of the hull of Cutty Sark from shop level by the entrance

Confused view with too many reflections from the shop

Also from the entrance with wobbly keel due to bad technique by photographer

'Sea' hull and people on  ground level

Construction details

Opium wars

The British preferred black teas to the more delicate green teas and imported more black than green.   No-one is certain why the custom of adding milk to black tea arose, although it goes back to the 1680s.

John Willis owner of the Cutty Sark

Dockside scenes unloading the tea

Chinaman

Important supplies

This bell was stolen around 1903 when the ship was under the Portuguese flag by an officer who had once served on Cutty Sark.   The Portuguese crew then stole the bell of the nearest vessel, the barque Shakespeare.   When Cutty Sark was bought by Captain Dowman in 1922, the culprit offered the original bell back, taking the Shakespeare's bell in exchange.

Certificate of discharge

Cutty Sark becomes Ferreira

Pastimes between watches

Australian wool

Cutty Sark moves to the Thames

Cutty Sark saved

Instruments

Trade routes

Through the porthole

Supplies

View across the river

The heads

Ropes everywhere

Bunks

Sailor's chest

Lifeboats

The Wheel and compass

Captain's reception room

The Galley

2nd Mate's accommodation

1st Mate's accommodation

Steward's room

Fire buckets

Wonderful chimney pots

Cutty Sark's sails

It's a dachshund!

Model Cutty Sark

Figureheads

Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship.   Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest.

Under the hull with a wide angle lens, thanks Steve

We had a Wednesday chicken club lunch at Wetherspoons

We visited the craft market

Bows and rosettes

Could be a row of sprouts, but I think they are little owls

Vertical panorama makes the hull look more impressive than it actually was

Knitting - just do it

Watermelon owl

Chinese dumplings

Wobbly

High key library entrance

Enjoying the sun

Old and new

Naval College Greenwich

Naval College Greenwich designed by Sir Christoper Wren

Colonnade

Colonnade

Viking ship

Figureheads

Barge

Golden lions

Golden lions

Miss Britain III and a suitable figurehead regarding her

The Implacable

Light collection

The Paddle Steamer engine

This enlarges enough to read if your eyes are good

Propeller

This enlarges enough to read

Construction of the Great Eastern

Cross looking 'woman' or Medusa or a chap

Where are we going next?

Propeller from above

Scare Devil on the left

Compensation +1.7

Cloth and jewels

Rock garden

Picasso like head position

Chap appears to be legless

Details on the right

The Battle of the Saints

Sweet young lad

Medicine Chest

Blunderbus?

Paddle Steamer

Queen's House

Entrance

Model of the Queen's House

Exquisite staircase

Hall

Hall

Captain Cook

Easter Island

Not for the seasick

View from the floor

Relaxing on the grass