UK - Day 13...Greenwich and more

This morning, we meet at North Greenwich station. The underground from the London Bridge station to here is all updated and pretty amazing! The tracks are actually blocked off with a glass wall that has doors in it that line up with the ones on the train when it stops and open automatically at the same time. Makes it pretty impossible to fall or jump onto the tracks and hurt yourself! The trains themselves are nicer too and the North Greenwich station? Superb.

First stop on the agenda is O2.
This bizarre-looking structure was designed and built to house an amusement park, but we're not here to play around. We're here to see how an unusual building deserted by an unsuccessful business can successfully adapt to a new and different use.
I am very impressed with the way they've worked with the rather unique structure, especially knowing that this is a retrofit project. The building is now a mall of sorts with retail and offices and entertainment venues inside. Thankfully, the original design of the building provided a huge, open and flexible space to be redesigned.
Outside, the plaza surrounding is very spacious and I imagine it handles large crowds very well for when they have events at the O2, like the showing of the new Harry Potter movie coming out soon. Walking around the plaza, we notice a huge poster dedicated to Michael Jackson. News of his death has been the headline news since I caught my flight out of the states. This poster is pretty neat, as anyone is allowed to write a little message and it is nearly covered with various scripts and attitudes.
There's a really cool covered walkway that goes from the O2 area to a walkway along the south bank of the river Thames. We take this route to our next stop.
Along the way, my classmate Paul points out these strange looking things on the river in the distance. He says they are known as the Thames Barrier and are a flood control system, and he saw some kind of documentary about them on the Discovery channel. Pretty cool design, if you care to google it up.
Ahead of us on the river walkway is a boldly colored housing complex known as the Greenwich Millennium Village. It is a mixed-use project with relatively affordable housing above retail on the ground floor and an elementary school on the same grounds.
The project was designed to keep vehicle traffic around the perimeter and open the central area to safe pedestrian travel. The colors are a bit overwhelming to some in our group, but I enjoy the overall atmosphere of the place - bold color and all!
And, there are some really cool flowers growing here. They remind me a little of bleeding hearts, but I'm not sure what they are.
After we have our fill of wandering around the village, we walk to a nearby grocery store that is known for its sustainable design. It is the Sustainable Sainsbury's. They don't like us all walking in with our cameras and staring around, so we leave quickly and take a bus to downtown Greenwich.
Downtown, we are free to do whatever we want until our next tour at 15:00. Satara and I decide to check out the huge Greenwich Park.
From the higher points in the park, you can look out over the city and see the well-known historical buildings (like the National Maritime Museum) in the foreground. Groups of children in uniform are all over the park, enjoying some time in the sunshine.
At the highest point in the park is the old Royal Observatory, which is now part of a complex of educational buildings and statues...
...and the location of the Prime Meridian!
That's right folks! You can line up on the line of the Prime Meridian...
...and have your picture taken by the statue at the end of it! Quite the tourist attraction.
In the first building, there is an exhibit of sorts with the prompt "Time Stood Still for me When..." repeated in numerous languages, and there are papers and pencils for you to write when and where and why. I stand here and read for a good while. For some reason, I expect the responses to revolve around tragedy and loss, and I am surprised to see a balance of good and bad moments that stopped time for these strangers from all over the world.
Another building in the little complex catches my attention - The Astronomy Centre! For someone who told her sixth grade teacher that she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up, (only to be told that the more reliable career option in the field would be the astronomer)...I can't help but to still be drawn to anything related to the world of stars and planets.
Satara and I have a good lookaround, both at the architecture and the exhibits before heading back down the hill to find lunch. On the way, we start to notice the townhouses we are passing. They really take the separate ownership thing seriously - Some just use a different color of door, or paint the exterior a different color, and others even have different roofing materials on each side! This one showed the obvious neglect of one owner in comparison to the other:
We end up at the Greenwich market, where the aromas of many different ethnic foods collide and we wander among the venders trying to decide which one to try today. I decide on a Turkish Gozlime. The cooks are really friendly and the result is delicious!
After lunch, Satara and I wander in the general direction of our next appointment, walking along the river as we go. We get sidetracked by the under-river pedestrian tunnel and just have to check that out! You go into this little hut-looking building and down some spiral stairs to the tunnel itself.
It's cool and damp down here, as you might imagine, and the tunnel seems to stretch on forever.
Once out of the depths of underwater walking, we head to the next appointment: Laban
The sign above is on one of the other buildings on their campus, not the main attraction that we have come to see. This school of contemporary dance houses dance studios, offices, computer lab, etc. in a very intriguing building designed by Herzog and de Meuron, the same architects who designed the Tate Modern art museum I posted about earlier. Before you even reach the front doors, you know there's something about this place. Even the landscape around the building is strategically sculpted to create flat practice areas for dancers outdoors, while shielding them from the streets because the school was built in a dodgey neighborhood. The entire skin of the building is tinted translucent polycarbonate, allowing the building to glow while classes go on in the evenings. The windows are highly reflective and act as mirrors for dancers practicing out on the lawn.
The architects carry the theme of movement (force + dynamic + weight + direction) into the interior with spiraling staircases, sloping floors, and even an undulating handrail.
This corridor to nowhere is another attempt to give dancers a different kind of space to move within. It looks out on a brown roof, which is a habitat for an endangered species of bird here.
Doors to the studios are all glazed and there are viewing windows for each studio - some even above like racquetball courts have. Our tour guide, Stephanie, says this is to get the dancers used to performing, to being watched.
Laban is influencing the neighborhood. The rundown buildings surrounding are now either being renovated or replaced, a huge mixed-use complex with housing and retail is being built around the corner now, and there are plans for a Dance Square - a studio of sorts for the community to learn about and celebrate dance. Exciting things happening because one school took the first step to improve a small part of the neighborhood!

The rest of the day is ours to do with what we'd like. A group heads back to the O2 for opening night of Harry Potter, some go to check out the local pubs, and Holly and I decide to go to Greenwich Market. She didn't make it there earlier today with the group she was with, and I was willing to go back. Unfortunately, it is closing as we arrive but she does manage to get a cool little wire sculpture thing for her son from one vendor. Keith joins us for dinner at a noodle place - a little too greasy, but we are hungry. We catch the bus toward Russell Square and home, but end up getting off early to see Tower Bridge.
Then, we stroll along the river walkway near City Hall. We see The Scoop (outdoor amphitheater near city hall) setting up for an event and stop to ask about it. We are told that for the month of July, they have free concerts every Thursday and Friday night and tonight's is a jazz group. We decide it would be fun to check out, and find seats.
I realize as I'm sucked into watching the talented musicians and listening to their music that this is what I've been missing from my daily rhythm. At home, hardly an hour goes by without tunes, whether it's my piano or the stereo or just me singin' whatever song is stuck in my head, and I haven't listened to more than snippets of street performer music as we pass for two weeks... The setting here is beautiful and I am so content to sit on the hard concrete and listen for as long as they'll play. Unfortunately, clouds are looming and the concert ends as the rain begins. We need to find the closest tube station as the clouds really open up, and come across an unexpected surprise. Part of the design of the area surrounding the City Hall incorporates a covered walkway!
And that walkway leads nearly all the way to the Tube! We only get drenched as we run, laughing, across the streets. Once on the tube, I sit across from an interesting older gentleman who keeps me entertained for the ride.
Back in the dorms, Satara is journaling and waiting to get all sorts of things off her mind. So, we eat cookies and I learn that my roommate is not so quiet afterall! As she winds down, the thunder and lightning come in quick succession and I get to fall asleep to a real thunderstorm! Ahhhh..... :)