Greenwich
Greenwich is downriver. It is not only famous for the meridian of zero longitude in geography. It also has woodland surrounding the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, open 10-17 and the racing quick tea clipper Cutty Sark. The boat trip to Greenwich takes 45 minutes each way.
Kew
Upriver the Kew gardens with the Royal Botanical Gardens are open 10-16/17. They are graceful, covering over 120 hectares with over 25,000 different plants. The boat brings you to Kew in 75 minutes.
Hampton Court
Farther upriver than the Kew gardens, there is the elegant Hampton Court, the palace of Cardinal Wolsey, expropriated by Henry VIII, including a lot of paintings and objects of art now shown to the public and some of the most glorious gardens in the world.
Windsor Castle
Hours: Open 11-16, except Friday 13-16 and Sunday 14-16.
Just beyond Heathrow airport is the small town of Windsor with Windsor Castle, a summer residence of the Queen.
It is the oldest and greatest residential castle in the world, built by William the Conqueror as a circular tower, but added on during the centuries. The most famous part is the St George’s chapel, one of the best examples of English architecture in the 15th C.
The castle houses some collections, open to the public, such as the Queen Mary’s Dolls House and the State Apartments, when the queen is not using them herself.
With children in tow it is now time to visit the Windsor Safari Park.
Windsor Safari Park
An open wildlife park where we can see, partly through closed car windows, some lions, tigers, elephants, zebras, rhinos, camels, monkeys and deer, to name the best known examples. The porpoises and dolphins perform at regular intervals.
Another amusing place for children is on the way back to London. It is Thorpe Park in Staines, just south of the Heathrow airport.
1996
© Jónas Kristjánsson
