Day 7

We started off the day by walking through the Bank of England Museum. We saw older money, we touched a brick of gold worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and we learned about inflation. From there, we walked to the Leadenhall market which has a history dating back to the 14th century, but the current structure was built in the mid 19th century. The design of the market is intricate and very colorfully painted with a glass roof that allows the market to remain open in rain or shine, but with the same outdoor feel.

From the market we walked down Pudding Lane to the Monument of the Great Fire of London. Pudding Lane was the residence of a baker who accidentally started a devastating fire that engulfed the city of London for 3 days destroying a significant portion of the town. The monument was erected in remembrance and celebration of the rebuilding of the city. The monument is a large, 61 metres (202 feet) high column with an internal spiral staircase of 311 stairs which lead to a viewing platform that overlooks a 30 mile radius. Everyone in our group hiked the 311 stairs to the top, and back down to receive a certificate at the entrance for reaching the top.

From the monument, we walked down to the River Thames and walked a couple of miles up the river, stopping briefly to eat the lunch which we had packed from Regents College. We finally reached the boarding docks for our scenic boat ride to Greenwich, where we climbed on the top level and traveled 1 hour and 15 minutes to Greenwich, with a guided tour all the way.




When we arrived at Greenwich, we walked through the campus of the Old Royal Naval College to the Painted Chapel, which is covered in a beautiful, Sistine Chapel-like painting that took 19 years to complete. From the chapel, we walked up a steep hill to the Royal Observatory.







Outside, was the Prime Meridian line, where visitors can have one foot on both the eastern and western hemispheres of the world simultaneously. After our group picture straddling the Prime Meridian, we rushed to make it back down the hill and to the next boat in 10 minutes. We cut through crowds and dodged traffic to learn that we had missed the boat by a few minutes. Professor Wolfe bought us bread, chips and water to recuperate from running while we waited for the next boat to arrive. Most of us napped on the boat ride back, and it began to rain when we left the boat for the Westminster Tube station. Unfortunately we, along with the rush hour commuters, were forced to take a longer route back to Regents than we had planned. Professor Wolfe dropped us off and we walked back to Regents in the rain and ate dinner together.