London is divided by the River Thames which winds its way past many iconic sights. A relaxing way to get an overview of the city, then, is by traveling by boat on the River. There are river sightseeing tours and even thrilling, high speed adventures. There is also a system of working ferries that are part of the London transport system. We bought “river rover” tickets that let us get on and off the ferries as we wished. There was no tour guide commentary, but the views are just the same as one would see from a tour boat. We passed by Big Ben, the London Eye, HMS Belfast, the Tower of London, and under Tower Bridge as we made our way to and from Greenwich. Once there, we walked past the tea clipper, Cutty Sark, through Greenwich market, and then up the big hill to the Royal Observatory – the location of the Prime Meridian which divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the planet. That big hill provides wonderful views of London, off in the near distance.

Our tip of the day is when leaving Greenwich, depart on out and away from London to the next stop, which is the end of the line. Then, on a nearly empty ferry you will have your pick of seats. We thought we might want to sit in the small outside area at the rear of the ferry. However, it was loud and smelled of diesel. We opted to move back inside, to two seats at the very front, to one side. Although there were some parts of the boat that obscured our views, we had a pretty good view to the front and side.