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Greenwhich and Island Gardens

The point of this excursion was to use the Docklands Light Railway, which literally cuts  between buildings at some points. Its a great way to view that end of the city, if you don't mind that there's no one driving the train. I had to have a destination, so I made Greenwich it and this is what I discovered along the way.

 

This is the view from just near the Royal Observatory. The 'this is the spot' marker for the meridian is within the pay section of the observatory, and I didn't think £9 was going to buy me a much better view than this, so I didn't go in.

In the forefront is the back end of the National Maritime Museum and Queens House.
This is the another view from the same spot. In the background is the Millennium Dome. The structure with the 4 pillars is one of at least two old power stations. They are the most amazing buildings, and I have numerous photos with them in.

 

This is the Queen Victoria Oak. It is thought that it may have been used to hold prisoners in its hey day. Its long since fallen over, and you probably wouldn't look twice at it if it weren't surrounded by fenching. This is the park rangers house. It reminded me of something out of a children's story. Very quaint.

This is the Royal Observatory Planetarium. The black dome in the forefront houses the remains of what was once a 40ft telescope, built by William Herschel.

The time ball on the roof was erected in 1833, providing the first public time signal.At five minutes to one p.m. G.M.T. every day the ball rises half-way up the pole, reaching the top at two minutes to one. The ball drops at exactly one o'clock. Since the ball can be clearly seen from the river, ships have used the signal to check their time.

This is taken inside the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. It runs underneath the Thames and connects the Cutty Sark Gardens and Island Gardens. It was built in 1902. If I'd known that before hand, I might not have used it. 
This dome harbors the entrance to the Greenwich foot path. This is taken from the Island Garden side. In the distance, you can see the dome on the Greenwich side, and a bit of the Cutty Sark.

 

The Royal Naval College building was too big to get a decent shot of from Greenwich, so I took this from the river bank in Island Gardens. The two domed towers are the same domes visible in the photograph of the National Maritime museum and the Queen's House.
These two pillars are a memorial to a number of firefighters and police officers who lost their lives during an explosion. The plaque is not very specific about what exploded, so I'm making the assumption that its got something to do with the industrial building across the river. I was walking along the river bank path, trying to get closer to the Millennium Dome when I came across this. I have no idea what this is. I have seen similar, but far less impressive structures elsewhere in the city, but as yet, no one has been able to tell me what they are for. Both appear to be near what could be gas storage tanks, and both are near disused power stations. 
This is a closer view of the power station. To its right is a large, monolithic building that's also quite bizarre. It appeared to have no windows or doors. It looked like a shoe box on its side. 

 

The Millennium Dome. Ugly isn't it. It closed to visitors a few hours before the new millennium and hasn't reopened since. There have been all sorts of proposals for what to do with it, including a joint proposal put forward by a former Disney boss and the owner of Ministry of Sound. As yet, none have been accepted and the dome remains deserted. 
I discovered this while walking along the river bank path. The path runs in front of a number of residential flats and simplexes. This was in the perimeter wall of one of these simplexes. It looks like the developers have either chosen to, or been forced to build on existing structures, which must be how this got stuck in a seemingly ordinary wall. The dome and a pirate ship. I have no idea what the ship is all about, it just happened to be sailing by.

17 September 2003h