The First Time to Visit Museums in England

Queen's House[^1]

Therefore, I have eventually found something real for myself which is literally to touch the world outside where I sleep. most of people would say that is the “travel”. I think that is true and here the museums in England come.

When it comes to the museums in England, personally I am sure that I will come up with The British Museum, which definitely represents all public museums in England, following National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House that I would like to talk about first. Those two are located in Greenwich National Park, just sitting on the near east of central London. Obviously, that park seems to serve the Royal Family from my perspective because those buildings around that place are so pretty and so elegant but, you know, they are in the very central of London nowadays, no matter how far they were away from City of London in the past.

Today Greenwich is set in Zone 3 based on the price map by Transport of London, which means Greenwich is a bit far away from the downtown but somehow at that moment I saw Greenwich was still busy in daytime during weekdays when people walk, vehicles run, trains pass underground and waterbuses fly on water. I was surprised that there was University of Greenwich which had a quite old looking outside and was really big as well. Around there I found a market where food stalls attracted students and visitors queuing, enjoying delicious food with exotic flour and british style improved by their cooks. I ordered one steak with chips for roughly eight pounds, with a kind of “ketchup”(It was not tomato sauce but I forgot what it was called.). The steak was cut into pieces, just suitable for me using a fork to catch them and put into my mouth, chewing and swallowing the juice and meat, followed by salty chips. By the way, there was a Chinese food stall, the most famous among those stalls. I was really surprised at that moment. More interestingly, customers were almost the internationals. Well, I might join them next time after tasting enough exotic food in Britain.

Nice place and nice food, but I am sorry about escaping from the topic I want to talk here. Going back to those museums, on thay day I had been prepared to spend most of the time on visiting around Greenwich National Park, precisely two museums. On the other hand, I had to prepare a plan B just incases with a pre-booked ticket for British Museum and a potential chance to pass by The Royal Observatory Greenwich.

I arrived at London Waterloo quite early on that morning as usual and even it was half an hour earlier than schedule. So I was lucky to visit The Royal Observatory Greenwich before getting to National Maritime Museum.

The pandemic had passed through a peak once again and at that moment the government temporily restrictions. With measures released, people could eventually take off their face coverings and breathe the fresh air outdoors. However, for me the air was quite cold and dry which made my nose painful. That might be the night extended to the morning.

On weekdays there were few visitors in museums and tourist attractions. As a student, I had a plan to just have fun and enjoy the sunshine if it was possible so it was good for me to go for a day out there. It spent me nearly £20 totally on two guidebooks for National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House, which seemed to be mandatory. However, I came across a zoo in London a few days afterwards and realised that zoo cost at least £30. Comparatively, I would like to say those which are places of culture and history with national backgrounds may be better for me a ordinary student.

There was The Royal Observatory Greenwich near those two I wanted to visit at that time but it was closed for temporary repairs until April 2022. I had to find a pathway next to the front entrance which was assessible to visit the meridian. The physical meridian was built on purpose and it extented from inside the museum to outside, just behind the wall, laying across the pathway. I was really excited to see the real ‘meridian’ with my eyes. That was a great memory lasting for a long time though.

An hour after walking around the observatory, I went back to those two palaces of my choice today. I was wondering whether Maritime Museum and Queen’s House were famous or not but I liked them since it was quite and there were few people gathering.

Well, in a word, National Maritime Museum shows what great achievements the British people obtained in the past time and Queen’s House displays the royal family related to the Queen, not only British but also some from European countries at that time anyway.

When it comes to The British Museum compared to those two places, British Museum is more famous but more arguable just because most of people know it instead of knowing National Maritime Museum. In addition, some say that British Museum nearly becomes ‘A Robbers’ Show’. On one hand, British Museum deserves the accusation for her history with United Kingdom. On the other hand, British Museum contributes her great exhibitons of wonderful display about heritages around the world and pursues heritage protection and sustainable development as well as cooperation with other museums and parties.

All in all, it seems like everyone wants to get rid of the past and be welcomed by the bright future. Personally I am willing to search for the sparkling jewels buried underground which might be looked down upon by people, from the perspectives of an ordinary visitor and a student reading tourism.

¹. This is a photo captured by Author. ↩