One of the things that had been on the list of things to do was to go and see the Thames Barrier. With the number of available weekends dwindling we decided to do this in conjunction with a promised return to Greenwich, and set out at a reasonable time on the Sunday morning. The traffic was minimal, and we arrived at the carpark for the visitors centre just at opening time. 

To say it was quiet was an understatement, which meant that we could watch the video and have the kids grizzle and not disturb anyone. They had a working model and other bits and pieces of information also to look through, but generally it seemed that they'd not updated anything since the early 80's and had not had the need to as they obviously don't get many visitors.

We then went for a walk along the river to have a first hand look at the barrier. Having been to the visitors centre we were better able to appreciate the engineering involved, but in hindsight (wonderful thing that it is) would have skipped the visitors centre and just gone straight to the barrier itself.

After a play in the playground, a coffee and a quick feed for the kids we drove the short distance to Greenwich and landed a great park. We walked along the waterfront to the Cutty Sark, and enjoyed some fish and chips for lunch listening to a band play (or practice?). Ben loved the open space, and practiced pushing the stroller around - he's nearly tall enough to see where he's going, and we managed to steer him clear of the conductor.

We then walked through the foot tunnel under the river to the Isle of Dogs and enjoyed a quiet moment in the park before heading back to the bustle on the other side. A wander through Greenwich market proved successful in finding some overdue birthday presents.

We were heading back to the car and decided to walk through the naval academy when a guy asked us if we wanted to see the crown jewels. Once Adam had established that no money was involved (and no, he wasn't making a lewd suggestion!) we walked through an impressive display of crown jewels. Napoleon's emperor's crown, Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace, Queen Elizabeth's coronation crown and scepter just to name a few. From there we visited a painted hall. This was the location where Horatio Nelson's body lay in state. With no time left on our parking ticket we arrived back at the car in the nick of time. A ticket was being written for a car in the aisle next to us!

The drive home was uneventful. We were only 15 minutes late for our dinner guests (blame the traffic).

Postscript - recommended the display to friends, who had more time, and saw the introductory video explaining how all the crowns and swords on display were copies! That explained the minimal security and the fact that there was a bar in the room.