The Greenwich Meridian

Have you heard of GMT? Greenwich Mean Time!? I believe this term is very familiar to you at least if you have learned about geography in your school or if you search for a place’s current time, you will find ‘Standard Time + (number) GMT'. Although the term Universal Time (UT) is used to replace GMT, the term GMT has been and is still in use since over 300 years until now.

Because of the infamous GMT, then, I spent one day to visit Greenwich when I was in London. Greenwich is in South-East London and very famous with its Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude). I went there by boat from Thames Barrier Pier and arrived at Greenwich Pier. I visited the Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory. The park is huge and I love it! It is beautiful ... and the Royal Observatory is in the centre of the park.


The Greenwich Pier

The Royal Observatory is a historical place. It was established by King Charles II in 1675. It was built to calculate the longitude of places for navigation purposes. The longitude was calculated from the Greenwich meridian, which was regarded as zero degrees longitude. Greenwich meridian is claimed as the standard for world time. I managed to see and take pictures of the famous Prime Meridian ‘line’ in the Royal Observatory. The Prime Meridian line represents the zero degrees longitude and divides the western and eastern hemispheres of the earth.


Indonesia (Jakarta) Longitude: 106 degrees, 45 seconds East

If you come to London, spend one day to go and take picture of the line. You can stand with one foot on the eastern hemisphere and the other on the western. The line lies on the ground and walls of the Observatory yard.


The Shepherd Gate Clock


The Greenwich Meridian Line

So, what time is it now? Mine is +7 GMT ...

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle ... it is beautiful, isn't it?

Leeds Castle is situated 6 km south east of Kent, England. The castle sets in 202 hectares of beautiful parkland and is surrounded by a natural lake. In the past, it was a Saxon royal manor which was then transformed into a castle by Robert de Crevecoeur in 1119. In 1278, the Castle became a royal palace for King Edward I. Since then, Leeds Castle has been the home of several queens and kings of England, including King Edward III, King Richard II, King Henry V, King Henry VIII.

The Castle was bought and privately owned by Lady Bailie in 1926. She redecorated the interior and exterior of the Castle. Then, she restored it in 1974 and opened the Castle to the public in 1976.


The ticket counter


Beautiful swans

The Castle exhibits the great collection of Medieval furnishings, tapestries and paintings. In addition to the Castle, there are many attractions here, such as Knights Realm playground, Chidren's turf maze, Hi Flyer static air balloon, Maze, Grotto, Dog collar museum, Falconry, Bird Aviary, Gardens, and Vineyard.

Apart from the Castle, I was interested to try the maze ... I wanted to challenge my brain. I entered the maze, even that I thought I was not smart enough to get to the exit ... but I managed to find the exit :). The maze was designed using 2,400 yew trees in 1988. I also loved and enjoyed its magnificent huge garden … the garden is superb!!

Loch Ness and Nessie

Have you ever heard somebody say that ‘his/her dreams come true’? I said the same thing when I had chance to go to the UK. Exploring and going around Europe is one of my dreams ... Yup, you can say that I am a big dreamer for having lots of dreams. So, when I had chance to go and stay for sometime in the UK, it is like dreams come true, especially when I visited places that I read during my childhood. One of those places is Loch Ness and its famous monster ‘Nessie’ myth. I always imagine what this monster actually looks like. I visited Loch Ness on my way to Inverness. I joined a guided tour from Scotland. The tour stopped by this place for half hour and the tour leader told us the tale about this lake.


Loch Ness ...

The existence of Loch Ness monster is still a controversy until now. Some people believe that Nessie resides in the water. Some people claimed that they have seen this monster and others say that it is only a myth.

The story began in 565 AD when St. Columba drove the monster away and gave command to it to stay in the water because it frightened St. Columba’s disciples when they were in their boat. It was the first recorded sighting of the monster. Then, the rumours spread far and wide that there is a creature live in the lake. There were also documentation from the 20th century about this monster, such as a photo of a slender head and neck rising above the surface of the water taken by a London surgeon or a survey that concluded there were an average of 20 monster sightings per year.

Until now, there is no firm evidence regarding the existence of Nessie. The controversy still goes on ... Whether Nessie exists or not, I still wish to visit this place one day if I have the chance ...