When we first found out we were embarking from Greenwich, I thought it was kind of cool—almost right in the heart of London. When we arrived in our Welcome Pickups car, our driver got there the fastest way he knew, but sadly, that was by driving through the worst parts of Greenwich. Neighborhoods that were crumbling, covered with graffiti and about every other shop looked vacant.

But once we arrived at the hotel, the rest of the village was spread out in front of us. Behind the hotel were the parts we had driven through; in front of the hotel was the section most visitors would tour, and they kept that in very nice condition. I don’t think I have mentioned what hotel we stayed in pre-cruise. We had chosen the DoubleTree by Hilton at London Greenwich. Why this hotel? Decent-looking rooms, decent reviews and about half the price of a downtown London hotel. Plus, I prefer being near the port so we can get there on the embarkation day without too much trouble. The hotel turned out to be very nice and a good value. We got our rooms with breakfast, which was a buffet and very good. The shower in our room left much to be desired. It was much too short for the rain shower head above, and the hand-held shower head hit me directly in the face and could not be moved to another position. Poor marks for that, but otherwise, it is very nice, and I would recommend it. I did mention not renting the room to tall people (because my brother had no problem in his room, and he is six inches taller than me), and they got back to me and said that was a great idea. Kudo for the response as well.

Back to our Viking Day in Greenwich. We were up early because our excursion needed to meet in the Star Theater at 8:00 am. And we weren’t even on the earliest excursion. We had chosen to do the included Viking excursion, just because it was included. For those of you who have not cruised with Viking, they include a shore excursion in every port. On our Med cruise in 2022, we weren’t impressed with any of the included tours we took. They are almost always one of two types—either a walking tour of a place close to the ship or tender port or a “panoramic” tour of the countryside. When you read a Viking description that says “panoramic,” you should immediately know that much of our tour will be by bus…or, in Viking speak, a “luxury motor coach.”

Our Greenwich tour was a walking tour. Kathleen was still worn out and suffering from our Ted Lasso tour, so she decided to stay on the ship. Steve, Jamie & I went along. My plan was to take off on my own if the guide was anything like the ones we had had in the Med—talked so much it was like they were paid by the word. As our Med cruise went on, I started doing that. I would walk with the group until I was bored and then walk off on my own to take photos. I had usually researched the port enough to know what I wanted to see. This one was different. Our tour guide’s name was Cosette (like in Les Mis), and she was excellent. Just the right amount of comments, just the right amount of humor and moved at the right speed. When it was over, I told her I thought it was the best “included” Viking excursion I had ever been on. She walked us all over two miles worth of Greenwich, and we learned a lot. And I got lots of photos. She was also very good about telling us where you could go after the tour (due to time limitations, these were places she couldn’t take us), and that really helped me pick out places I wanted to shoot. So, I did the entire tour and then walked back to see the places she couldn’t take us and got the other shots I wanted.

Speaking of shooting, here are my morning tour photos. I hope you like them. Don’t forget: If you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And please…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Darn! I almost forgot. While I was at the Observatory, I took a screenshot of my phone’s compass. Check this out. I am at exactly 0 longitude, facing due north.

Then it was back on the ship, and Steve and Jamie met friends from Norwich for lunch at the local brewery. Kathleen and I grabbed lunch and I spent the afternoon writing the post you got yesterday and processing photos.

We had dinner in the World Cafe. They were doing a “English Dinner” featuring many dishes we had eaten at the Wensleydale Heifer and enjoyed at Paul and Gail’s. There was roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, trifle, treacle and lots more. It was good but nowhere near as good as the Howard’s B&B or the Heifer.

After dinner, it was time to sail out. The ship was scheduled to sail down the Thames to the sea starting at 7:45. While we were eating dinner, the Captain and three pilots sat down at the table next to us. We knew it was time to go when they stood up from dinner.

Leaving Greenwich differs from any sail away we have done in 35+ cruises. Usually, the seamen will slip the ropes and pull them in, and off you go. In Greenwich, because there is no pier and the ship is anchored in the middle of the river, it is moored to five huge buoys that are anchored to the river bottom. To bring in the ropes and untie the ship, a crew has to get onto each mooring buoy and untie the ropes. That became a long and entertaining process for those of us taking photos. I have a few shots to show you what I am talking about.

After they finally got the lines off the ship, we were underway, and the sail out was very different. We were led out by both a pilot boat and a big tug. The best part of the sail out was getting to photograph the entire trip on the Thames. We went through the Thames Barrier (used to control the tides), passed another cruise ship , and went past the 02 tent and lots of parts of eastern London. I will let my pics give you the rest of the story on the sail out. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

That concluded last night. By the time we were down the river, it was close to 10:00 p.m., and that was way past my bedtime. So it was off to bed. I needed to rest up to do everything I wanted to do today on the first sea day we had ever expierienced on a Viking ship.

The Thames is liquid history. —John Burns