Saturday 22 February 2014

A day out in Greenwich!

Greenwich is one of the many cute little villages in and around London and it's very close to us. Both Rob and I had been there before but several years ago. Greenwich is a very family oriented village and given that the weather is still spoiling us here in London, we decided to spend a full day out in Eastern London. Greenwich can be reached in several ways but we opted for the relaxing and picturesque river cruise. Part of the reasons why I love living near the river is that it makes me feel at home; I come from a beach town and I absolutely love being close to the water. Fine, the Thames is not really the Mediterranean Sea but it's the closest I can get here in London. And according to Emilia there is no distinction between river and sea anyway. See below. 

Considering how little she is, Emilia has already tried several different forms of transport but she had never been on a boat until today. I knew she would love it. She was so excited and kept saying WOW throughout the whole twenty-minute ride. You can even see her spelling the word WOW with her open mouth in the pictures! Also, and to go back to my earlier point, as soon as the boat started moving, she stretched her arm pointing ahead and said in awe: mare (=sea)! The one and only time I told Emilia what mare is was during our last trip to Pescara so I was very impressed that she remembered it! However, the Thames is not quite the same as the Adriatic Sea, is it? So I told her: No, amore mio, non e' il mare. You should have looked at her face and how disappointed, and perhaps a bit confused too, she was. In the end, I decided to let it go and I also said mare in excitement!

 
 
 
 

Once in Greenwich, we first took a stroll around the town centre and did a bit of shopping. There are so many cute, independent, handmade shops there. And since I don't know when we will be back to Greenwich, I even bought gifts for next Christmas and birthdays not occurring until next Autumn :) 

 
grumpy face because we didn't buy anything in this shop!

And while Emilia and I enjoyed browsing the stalls at the market and checking the local sites, Rob was super excited to see Thor's huge hammer in the garden of a college's estate. Too bad we couldn't get in! 


We then made our way to the park. We looked for a cafe' where to have lunch for a while but the few around were all very crowded. Emilia, however, couldn't wait any longer so we sat on a bench and she had her packed lunch. After eating and being exhausted from all the excitement and sightseeing, Emilia fell asleep straight away.

 

 So we strolled to the riverside looking for a not too busy place to eat while Emilia was peacefully napping. We ended up eating at the Maritime Museum, and what a nice surprise that was! The museum is free to visit so as soon as we were done eating and Emilia woke up (just in time!), we took a look around. The children's gallery was an obvious place to check first but it was the gigantic floor globe map that got Emilia intrigued. In just a few minutes she visited North America, Europe and New Zealand! :) 

 
 
 
 
 

The museum was very nice, however, the weather was too good to be spending the day inside. So, we went back to the park and took a long stroll. In fact, now that Emilia can walk, she barely wants to stay in her stroller. She loves wandering around like big people do! 


We had a wonderful family day out. Let's hope the weather keeps getting better and better and we will barely spend one weekend at home!



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