Longitude Zero

We landed at Heathrow Airport and, because we were carrying our luggage, breezed through immigration and customs. The Viking representative snagged us just outside the door of luggage claim to put us on the bus. The ship’s crew needed some time to debark our predecessors and make the ship ready for us, so we drove to a palatial Sofitel at the edge of the airport, where we killed about an hour and a half feasting on coffee, cinnamon buns, cheese and fruit. Another 90 minute bus ride brought us through Kensington and Chelsea, and along the Thames to Greenwich. There we boarded a tender that took us to the middle of the river, where the beautiful new Viking Mars awaited us. This ship is only one month old, and ours is only its second cruise. It is good to be in Greenwich again. We walked through the beautiful green lawns of the Old Naval College, saw the clipper ship Cutty Sark, and passed the church of St. Alfege, which contains the body of British General Wolfe, who was killed on the Plains of Abraham at the Battle for Quebec. He and his family were parishioners in this church. The congregation here also displays behind a glass panel the old organ keyboard used by the noted baroque composer Henry Purcell, who was choirmaster and organist here. The Royal Greenwich Observatory winked at us from high atop its hill at exactly 0 degrees of longitude. We grabbed a quick lunch at the World Cafe and found our stateroom prepared for our arrival. Much of the history of the English speaking world took place a stone’s throw from here and we are about to dive into it.Read more