Years ago I took my year fives on a very educational and carefully planned trip into the centre of Melbourne but unfortunately along the way we saw a possum in a tree and a Ferrari. Then on the way home two very drunk adults covered in tattoos were sitting right in the middle of our train carriage so all the learning was forgotten and there was no point having the students write a recap the next day because the museum wouldn’t even get a mention.

See if you can pick which event from this excursion was equivalent to a possum, Ferrari and drunken strangers all rolled into one.

We left home at 10:30 and headed to Greenwich, which meant taking the brand new (to us) Elizabeth line! Look at it in all its futuristic brutalist glory.

So shiny, clean and purple (all the tube lines have a colour, this one is purple so there was a bit of purple in the upholstery).

We stopped at Custom House and walked to the cable car. It takes passengers across the Thames to the O2 arena. It rises 90 metres and has great views.

I’d made the critical error of having two cups of tea before leaving the flat so I was dying for the loo when we got off at the other side. Luckily there was a cafe so we stopped for a coffee and pastry.

I’m no connoisseur, but the Portuguese tarts (pastel de nata) were the best we’d had yet. They seem to be very fashionable right now. Lea had a custard croissant that was also the best she’d had.

Unfortunately the cafe was also the place where Lea disgraced herself by admitting she had not brought the teaspoon I had SPECIFICALLY bought for her to use in cafes that don’t offer spoons (she likes eating her cappuccino foam first) and I shook my head and tut-tutted for at least a whole minute. I also said I’d shame her and write about it in the blog. I have kept my promise! TUT TUT!

Anyhow, after I made a big todo about nothing we went out to look at a big headless statue outside the cafe.

We caught the bus to Greenwich.

Later we read that apart from one person who was treated for smoke inhalation, no one was injured.

Anyhow…

First stop was this unusual sculpture.

Next we walked to the Maritime Museum.

While everyone else browsed the general exhibition, I paid for a ticket to the astronomy photography competition.

It didn’t take long to see all the pictures so I went for a look around the general exhibition. They had a replica of a very interesting ship.

The Rawalpindi is one of four ships of the same class that brought immigrants to Australia. Its sister ship, the Himalaya, brought my mother and her family! The display had photos of cabins and ship life that I think Mum would’ve enjoyed seeing, so I took some photos.

After the Maritime Museum we decided on The Kings Arms for lunch, a pub that was almost across the road from the museum.

It was a very cosy and beautifully decorated pub and the food was terrific.

Luke and I both got the steak and ale pie but could have easily shared one. Pete very kindly had a slice of mine, which I would’ve sorely regretted eating if it had stayed on my plate.

After lunch we headed to the Queens House.

The building was used by royalty at different times but also for housing soldiers, artists and was also used as a set for Bridgerton. It was currently housing an exhibition of paintings with a nautical theme.

The building itself was very interesting, with some lovely wallpaper (which seems to be a motif of this trip) featuring monkeys and pomegranates.

Also a notable staircase, the first of its kind built in England.

Lovely!

Next was a short walk up a steep hill to the Greenwich Observatory. We didn’t pay to go in but managed to find a spot where we could stand on the meridian line.

Back down the hill to the Old Royal Naval College, where Luke and I left Lea and Pete in the cafe while we went into the Painted Hall.

The Painted Hall is an enormous room with a painted ceiling and far more impressive and interesting than the Sistine Chapel… in my opinion, anyway!

It also has far fewer people jammed in. and padded benches visitors can lie on and mirrors for ease of viewing.

The painting is full of references to history, mythology and legend.

There’s plenty more to do in Greenwich but it was getting towards 5pm so we walked the short way to the ferry and caught a boat back towards the city.

Lea and Pete went to have dinner with Mark, Luke and I went back to the apartment for a quick change and rest before heading to our evening’s entertainment.

Austentatious was an improvised comedy performance where audience members shouted out possible Jane Austin titles. The suggestions were ‘Pride Month and Prejudice’, ‘Bloodbath in Bath’ and the one that was chosen, ‘Perspiration’.

The story was so convoluted that I’m not going to attempt to retell it, but it was very funny and the audience loved it.

After dinner Luke had booked us a table at Berenjak, a restaurant his old workmate, Mark, had recommended.

How nice to turn up and find out it’s in the guide! Also to find it was worth booking a table, because people were turned away ahead of us at 9:45pm.

The cuisine was Persian street food and the flavours were fantastic.

A great way to end an action-packed day!