This year is flying by! I know it’s cliche, but that’s how it feels! At least that’s my excuse for why it’s been over a month since we traveled to London to visit family, and I’ve yet to write about it.
Quick life update before we get started; I got a job! I started mid-April (just after this trip) as a part-time lab tech at LMU Munich, in the same department as Shane (a different lab, though). So, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be working with Cuckoos (yes, the bird)! I never expected to work in an evolutionary biology department, given that I’ve been in the biotech/pharmaceutical realm until Ecuador. But, so far, so good! And, there was no German language requirement, which is great. We’ve started learning German again (we’ve been re-inspired), but there’s a huge difference between day-to-day German and working-level German!
So, anyway. Back to London!
My aunt and uncle spend every April in London. They introduced us to the city back in 2016 and have since managed to instill their love (especially my Aunt Ann’s love!) of the city in us. This trip was particularly special because we overlapped with my cousin and her family. So, we had a mini-family reunion!
This trip, since we’ve all been to London before, we didn’t go to any of the typical sites, like the Tower of London, for example. We did, however, have a cousin afternoon out and went on a historic pub tour. As one might expect, the architecture and history lessons became progressively shorter as the tour progressed. 😆
We also spent the day in Greenwich, which was an easy boat trip down the River Thames. I feel silly even writing this, but in case you’re like me and never put two-and-two together, Greenwich is home to the prime meridian. And all those time zones? For example, we’re in Greenwich Mean Time +1/+2 (GMT+1/+2; winter/summer) in Munich. They originate in THIS Greenwich.
To stand on the prime meridian, you need to visit the observatory, which was really interesting. The museum explains how the prime meridian was established and how time and time zones were united internationally. It also sits on a hill, so the view over Greenwich was quite lovely.
Plus, it’s fun to say that we’ve been to the equator and the prime meridian!
Greenwich is also home to the Cutty Sark, a British clipper ship from the 1870s that carried tea and was once the fastest ship in the world. You can (obviously) tour the ship.
We had three full days in London, so we also fit in a proper English breakfast (twice) and visited the transportation museum (way cooler than it sounds!), the Borough Market (and had dinner at Roast, deeeelicious!), and The Lookout (address: 8 Bischopgate). We stumbled upon The Lookout after seeing the line for the Sky Garden. This place was also free and considerably less crowded if you’re looking for a nice viewpoint!
London is such a great city, made even better by spending time there with family! Although, I do have one bone to pick with London…
What’s with the ice cream truck hate?
See you next April (I hope), London!
Tschüss,
The Shwits 
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