Olympic Park 2012

Not far from the Olympic Park, just south of the River Thames in Greenwich Park, you can visit the actual Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory where, since 1675, each new year officially starts on the stroke of midnight GMT. It is also a scientific treasure as it marks ‘longitude zero’ from which distances to everywhere in the world are measured and the official east & west hemispheres are marked.

The Observatory contains a Planetarium and Astronomy Centre and is part of the National Maritime Museum. There is a charge of 7 GBP for adults to go into the courtyard with the Line, but much of the other parts of the complex are free like most of London’s museums etc. There is a tube stop “Greenwich’ within easy walking distance and the museum is normally open every day 10am -5pm. It’s a good day out with the park surrounding the museum and also you can generally explore that side of the river by foot from there.

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Since the last post, I’ve been thinking how sometime just going for a wander is the best way to enjoy a city. Like any major city London has its dodgy corners, but on the whole it is a safe place. I’d encourage everyone coming to the Olympics to get out there and explore East London for themselves.

If you want to plan a little in advance, you could browse this fantastic website – East London’s Free Art & History Show – by the late Lawrence Rigal (formerly Rabbi of the Stepney Settlement in East London, social historian, youth club leader, author on Liberal Judaism, photographer and wine maker). It has maps for each district with descriptions of the interesting historical points and it is really easy to navigate back and for between the area map and the descriptions. Bow, Stratford, Popular, Limehouse and all the other sites around the Olympic Park are all included.

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