T he Observatory at the top of Greenwich park is (at the time of writing) probably my favourite spot in London. I can remember coming here as a kid once, then again when I came to visit one of my friends in uni and have always loved it.
The last time I came here was in the middle of December a few years ago, so the experience was quite different to how it was today. The middle of a hot summer probably isn’t the bet time to go to one of Londons best viewing spots. Half of London seemed to have the same idea as I did, which made it nearly impossible to get a picture without a person in it.
I still stuck around to get a few photos – I wasn’t walking all the way up that massive hill for nothing! I tried to frame the shot so that the hundreds of people lying all over the grass weren’t in it, but it was quite difficult – I mean yes it was hot, but it was still pretty cloudy. It reminded me of where I grew up. One ray of sunshine, and the beaches were lined with pop up tents and people playing cricket with a brand new cricket set purchased from the £1.20 shop – yes, the £1.20 shop, not the £1 shop, don’t even ask.
Anyway, since the sun worshippers were ruining my shot, I decided to head through the park toward the river and try to focus more on the buildings around the university/Naval College which are pretty spectacular anyway. I walked around the buildings for a while waiting patiently for people to finish having their picture taken ‘holding up the fountain’ – sigh – then walked around the back of the buildings along the river. I thought I could get a good shot from the opposite side of the river and then discovered someone had conveniently put in a foot tunnel allowing you to walk to the other side. Fab!
The tunnel itself provided some cool shots I had not expected so that was an added bonus. It was definitely worth the walk over as the view from the other side was really nice.
The wind had started to pick up, and the clouds were really coming over, so I got the shots I needed then called it a day. I’ll probably re-do the shot from the observatory when the place isn’t full of people, although given that its one of the most beautiful places in London, I may be being slightly optimistic to expect an empty park.
