Astride the meridian
This week, I revisited the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich with a very good friend who’s lived in London for decades and never been there. One of the famous features of the place is the location of 0 degrees longitude and one can stand astride a line marking this special geographical spot.
Standing astride the world’s prime meridian
September 4th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
As first a geographer and then an engineer, I find Maritime museums fascinating places. I have not yet been to Greenwich, although I have walked past it down the Thames path. The Maritime Museum in Aberdeen is well worth a visit because not only does it have traditional seafaring collections but it boasts the only displays in the UK of the history of North sea oil exploration complete with a scale model of a drilling platform extending over 3 floors!
September 4th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Snap (for the photo).
I lived 5 minutes away from the park – did you also look towards Canada from the statue?
September 4th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Mavis, I take it that you’re referring to the statute of James Wolfe who led the British siege of Quebec in 1759.
Not only did I observe it, but I told my friend of my visit to the heights of Quebec in 1966. Our local guide narrated how Montcalm held out against the British until Wolfe out-foxed him!
September 5th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I was and its nice to know you visited t’other end.
September 5th, 2007 at 5:29 am
An excellent photo taken with a great deal of taste, technical expertise and sensitivity to artistic detail….
September 5th, 2007 at 9:45 am
In case you haven’t guessed, dear reader, the photo was taken (with my camera phone) by my good friend Ivan.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
The meridian goes through the tunnel that is the entrance to Hither Green train station (it is on the ceiling). When I lived there it meant I knew each morning exactly when I had crossed hemisphere!
Also, did you notice the chunks knocked out of the plinth of the Wolfe statue? These weren’t caused by vandalism by teenagers but by shrapnel from a V1 that landed near by during WW2.
I once emailed some Canadian colleagues to let them know I had run past the statue of Wolfe ‘the man who made Canada what it is today, i.e. British’. They never responded…