Along the road: Greenwich

Hi,

I went to Greenwich today.  The name of the borough should be pronounced as [GREN-itch].  'w' is a silent letter, like in 'answer'.  This word should be similar to you already because the name is usually referred as the time zone zero (Greenwich mean time: GMT).  

Me standing between west and east side of the Meridian line.

Actually, the main purpose of the time zone is to locate spatial, not temporal location. In the old time, when England is the maritime nation--connected and use the sea for commerce, there is a problem that they can not refer the location where their ship is in east-west direction.  This leads to many loss and disastrous  events.

The north-south location can be determined by angle between the horizon and the sun or the polar star. Thus, they came up with idea of using the time of the day in the mean (Greenwich) and local location to calculate the angle differed from the mean location.  This can be done with a simple math using those times with the fact that earth revolves 15 degree/hour.

Here we can obtain the longitude from local and Greenwich time.  

Famous 24-hour clock

The funny part is the method to know the Greenwich time when you are away from Greenwich.  Nowadays, we use the clock, but the first method is 'powder of sympathy'.

When one has been stabbed with a weapon applied with this powder, they will feel painful every time the weapon being touched with the powder.  So, a ship took a dog wounded by a powdered knife, and the knife is kept at Greenwich.  At noon, a keeper dip the knife into the powder, so the dog will yelp making it possible to determine the time difference.  Wikipedia said that it is just a satire, but it is also exhibited at the Greenwich observatory. :D

One may wonder that where they choose to draw the line?  The answer is easy.  Bradley Meridian happened to place his telescope at a location.  the north-south line is drawn there as a first Meridian. :D  Thereafter, another better telescope is placed away from this line, they move the line to that telescope. :S

It is not only the meridian line that is a sole attraction of the town.  Greenwich is a beautiful and not noisy as london. I think that a lot of green space in the town make me fell good.  

Spacious Greenwich VS crowded London

Let me tell some funny story. The 'Painted Hall' was intended to be a dining hall for soldiers.  Sir James Thornhill took 19 years to paint it, and it turns out to be too beautiful to dine in.  Since then, it becomes a tourist attraction, leaving soldiers to eat at somewhere else. :D

The Chapel which is decorated with not much budget.  They use the painting techniques instead of sculptures to cut the cost.  An example is shown below. 

Inside the Chapel

Fake sculpture, but real painting

True marble VS fake marble

Other museums such as Queen house and maritime museum shows their obsession of naval.  There are too many sea painting for me already.  Sorry, photography is prohibited. :)

The last funny story is about the walking tunnel connecting Greenwich with the opposite side of the Thames.  A book said that, in the opening ceremony, mayors and officials had a champagne party in the tunnel.  After they went up, the decompression of air in their stomaches make them uncontrollably fart and burp. :o  Sorry, I don't prefer sparkling liquids, especially in the tunnel.

That is a quite long and big e-mail.  Hope you enjoy and have a good time.