There’s moon stuff everywhere as we mark 50 years since humans first stepped on its surface. I’ve watched the documentaries and read the articles so it was time to head on one of the top exhibitions in London celebrating this moment. The National Maritime Museum’s The Moon caught my eye for its claim to be ‘the UK’s biggest exhibition dedicated to our celestial neighbour’! Continue reading
The Painted Hall has been undergoing extensive renovation for the last 2 years so I was really looking forward to seeing this amazing place when it was unveiled. They managed to keep the venue open to visitors during the work by offering tours on the enormous scaffolding erected to enable the painstaking cleaning and this gave visitors a once in a lifetime chance to see the ceiling really close up. I went on one of these tours and you can read about that here. Continue reading
The Painted Hall in Greenwich is a wonderful sight at any time but during their restoration project you can climb a huge scaffolding and see the artwork close up. There’s a massive conservation project going on before the hall reopens in full splendour next year. Continue reading
It was one of the hottest days of the year and I was off to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London to explore the story of Franklin, lost in the arctic! Continue reading
2016 has undoubtedly had some bad moments, upsets and losses so I’ve been seeking solace in my hometown. London cheers me up every day with sights that lift the mood and as Samuel Johnson said ‘ when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life’. Samuel was clearly from a different age and surely meant women as well! So exploring London is how I lift myself up and although new experiences are good fun, I really enjoy welcoming back old friends.
Our famous astronaut Tim Peake may be back from space now, but you can take a trip there anytime at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Their exhibition Above and Beyond has lots of fun interactivity and is definitely one to put on the list for the school holidays. Continue reading
How to chose a top 3 when it’s been such a busy year in London? Looking back through my photos it became clear very quickly that the Tower Poppies, Spectra London and the Tall Ships in Greenwich were easy winners. Have a look and see why…
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It was a gloriously sunny day in Royal Greenwich for the last day of the Tall Ships Festival. I chose this day to visit as all the ships were due to assemble and sail past Greenwich’s historic waterfront and head out to sea down the Thames.
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There are many reasons to visit Greenwich – the Cutty Sark, the world’s meridian, the painted hall, the Queen’s House and the permanent collections at the National Maritime Museum are a few of them. Now there are 2 more great reasons as the National Maritime Museum has opened its Nelson Galleries as well as a wonderful exhibition about Turner, one of my favourite painters. I was luckily enough to be shown around by the Curators for both exhibitions which is a privilege so if you ever see one advertised, do book yourself onto it for the inside track you get, bringing the exhibition to life. Continue reading
Greenwich is a great place to visit and it has just got a whole lot better! The beautiful Cutty Sark sailing ship has been reopened and is a new landmark for the area. To offer even more, The National Maritime Museum has added to their already amazing collections with a fascinating new exhibition called Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames.
The Cutty Sark was the fastest ship of her day and plied her trade around the world mostly as a tea clipper and is the last surviving of these ships. She has been restored using a great deal of original material which is a miracle given the fire that swept through her in 2007. Luck was on their side that day as a great deal of the original timbers had been removed from the site so survived to be reinstated to make the wonderful ship we can visit.
The restoration has at its heart a glass apron which means you can walk right underneath the golden hull and see the glorious shape of the ship as well as explore the decks and cabins.
There are evocative tea chests on the lower decks and fun interactive maps where you can try to beat the Cutty Sark’s best journey time but I was 10 days slower! Famous as a tea clipper that name deriving from these ships ‘clipping’ the time taken and you can learn how the trade winds and doldrums influenced their racing times.
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On the top deck you can admire the high rigging which once held 32 sails and reaches up 152 feet/47 metres, and see the tiny bunks the crew slept in, Cutty Sark was launched in 1869 when the men were clearly much shorter than we are now! The wheel, however, is really tall (as you can see in the photo with yours truly) and I’m sure the Captain would have to stand on a box to reach the top spokes.
The Queen opens the Cutty Sark for visitors on 24th April which must be strange for her as she performed the same act in 1957 as this photo shows. The photo is part of a really interesting slide show with commentary where we learn that a Cutty Sark is a ladies undergarment and it taken from a poem by Robert Burns!
On our preview day they were still adding the finishing touches but I’m sure by the time the Queen arrives it’ll be perfect. The Cutty Sark is now on my list of recommendations for visitors to London.
My laptop has let me down recently but hopefully I’ll be back posting many more London blogs.
Bye for now,
Sue
itsyourlondon.co.uk
@itsyourlondon