Reminders of the differences between American English and British English come nearly every day.

Last night: "Stoned Dates" on a package of the dried fruit. Which, of course, means the pits have been removed.

But, the first time you see "stoned dates," you can't help imagining a dialogue like this:

"Wow, man, I'm wasted. What movie did you say you were taking me to?"

"I forget. I'm wasted, too. Forget it. Let's go eat. I'm REALLY hungry."

Saturday in Greenwich (continued) -- After the National Maritime Museum (see the previous entry), we headed off to Goddard's Pie House for traditional chicken and mushroom pies and mash(ed potato), covered with a thin, green sauce the restaurant refers to as "liquor". This family restaurant was founded in 1890 and has the basic-but-good atmosphere of a typical pie shop -- wooden floors, marble tables and staff behind a counter where you order your food. They have a Web site: www.pieshop.co.uk

After Goddard's, we headed off to the Greenwich Theatre for a pantomime. (Apologies to any Brits for the following. I make a point of explaining things taken for granted here so that my compatriots back in the States will understand what I'm writing about.). Pantomimes -- also known as pantos -- are performed during the holiday season and, contrary to what you might think from the name, are anything but silent. Often involving fairy tales or legends, they consist of a lot of audience participation, punning to the max, some wink-wink, nudge-nudge action and can be a lot of fun.

Our panto was "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves". However, it was not quite the traditional legend of that name but a version updated for today. The action was set in the year 2012 in Blackheath, an area adjacent to Greenwich, which, according to the play, had become a desert now populated by camels, meerkats, etc. The three-member orchestra wore fezes and robes.

An American friend who also lives in London has urged me for a couple of years to see a panto and this was our first. It was great fun.

Saturday saw Diane, Jay and I heading to Greenwich, one of my favorite parts of London because it feels like going out of the city to a charming riverside town even though you're still in the capital (Fellow New Yorkers: it's very roughly akin to going to Riverdale).

I also love Greenwich for being the epicenter of naval heritage in London. On the waterfront are the tea clipper Cutty Sark and the 54-foot sailboat Gipsy Moth, in which Sir Francis Chichester made the first solo continuous circumnavigation of the world in 1966-67. Immediately east along the shore is the magnificent Old Royal Naval College. Just south of the college across Romney Road is the National Maritime Museum, whose buildings include the Queen's House, a gem of a Palladian building designed by Inigo Jones in 1616. And up a hill in lovely Greenwich Royal Park is the Royal Observatory and the Greenwich Meridian.

But before we got to Greenwich, we hopped off the Tube to check out Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs across the Thames from Greenwich. Basically, a shopping center but we hadn't walked around there before.

After lunch, we hopped onto the computer-controlled (no driver!) Docklands Light Railway for a quick hop under the Thames to Greenwich. We then split up.

I headed off to the Maritime Museum where I saw:

-- A special exhibit contrasting the 1831 South American voyage of exploration by the Beagle and naturalist Charles Darwin with the 21st-century voyage to Mars by the unmanned exploratory craft Beagle 2, which will search for life on the Red Planet. The artifacts on display include Darwin's personal copy of a first edition of his seminal "Origin of Species" and geolocial specimens he collected in the Andes, among them a large hunk of petrified tree.

Beagle 2 is to land on Mars next December.

-- The 1732 royal barge -- a large, glorified rowboat with a small, castle-like cabin in the stern -- built for Prince Frederick, Prince of Wales during the reign of George II. The boat has no little amount of 24-karat gold leaf. The bow sports a slender, black 12-foot pole topped by a small gold and red crown.

-- Bloodstained clothes worn by Admiral Lord Nelson at the Oct. 21, 1805, Battle of Trafalgar, in which he won victory for Britain against a combined French and Spanish fleet but lost his life to a French marine's musket ball. You can see the hole the ball made in his uniform coat, just under the left epaulette and the pants that were cut away from him to make him more comfortable as he lay dying.

There's a lot more to see at the museum and in Greenwich.