Similar to our bus tour in Paris, we got a free boat ride with our hop-on-hop-off ticket here in London.

But first we open with a picture of Mr. Jamal keeping an eye on things for us.

jimjam

The boat tour guide was pretty entertaining - it was fun to get little tidbits from the perspective of being on the water.

There were big trash containers stationed on the edge of the river which get loaded during low tide, then when the tide rises they float and get tugged away. Not the most glamorous of tidbits but I thought it was neat :)

It was also neat to get a sense of just how many canals there are (there are a lot).

Another view of Tower Bridge - but this time from the river! Ooh, ahh!

tower-bridge

We hopped off at the last stop in Greenwich and started our climb up to the Royal Observatory. On the way we found a giant ship in a bottle:

ship-in-a-bottle

The fancy line with the observatory in the background, gated off by expensive museum tickets (which I’m sure are worth it, we just didn’t have the time). The red “time ball” in the background drops every day at 1pm to help navigators sync up their marine chronometers. The ball pictured dates to 1919, but the original was installed in 1833!

royal-observatory

And the less glamorous marker for the lowly non-ticket holders :p

meridian-line

This beauty was the first clock to show GMT to the public. Zoom in on the second image for some fun factoids :)

clock1 clock2

And the view back down the hill was quite the sight!

view-from-greenwich-park

After doing a lap around the stalls in Greenwich Market, we stopped into this staple pie shop the boat guide recommended. No eels for us, though.

pie-and-mash

The Greenwich foot tunnel which goes underneath(!!) the Thames, built in 1902.

foot-tunnel1 foot-tunnel2

The Cutty Sark - “the fastest of it’s time!”

cutty-sark

We took an Uber back . . . an Uber BOAT! It was fun sitting at the front and watching the two boaters throw lines to secure the boat to each of the stops - they were a well oiled machine. Please forgive me if my boating lingo is lacking ;)

Since we opened with Jamal, it only seemed proper to close with him as well.

jimjam-look

Just look at those eyes. “You guys were gone SO long!!”