Then we were off to the Globe Theatre. Both Brooke and I were extremely excited about seeing the exact reproduction of the theatre where Shakespeare wrote the majority of his plays. We took the Underground under the Thames, and a few blocks later, we were there! Across the Thames, there was also a beautiful view of St. Paul's Cathedral.
They had a lot of interesting relics inside, but we weren’t able to get a tour of the actual Globe. Doctor Faustus was premiering tonight, and the actors were having a closed rehearsal, so the only tours that they were doing were outside tours of the walk between the new Globe and the second original Globe Theatre. That tour was still really cool because we saw a little bit of the original foundation of the second Globe Theatre. The first one was completely destroyed by a fire when the Elizabethans decided it would be a good idea to fire a cannon during a performance… considering the building was made of wood and had a thatched roof, that didn’t go over very well. The second site was built soon after, and there were some original bricks of the flooring left that we could see.
Part of the tour included the original site of the Rose Theatre, which was the first theatre of its kind in London. That site was excavated in the late 1980s, and they found a lot of the original foundation, which is still preserved today. We were able to see it and watch a video of its origins, which was really neat. That was the theatre where Shakespeare got his start. He also acted there.
After we were finished with The Rose and The Globe, we headed to Westminster Abbey for Evensong services. We were told that there was absolutely no photography, but I couldn’t resist. The inside of the abbey is so beautiful; the pictures I was able to snap didn’t have a flash, and they don’t do it any justice. So many people are buried in there, and there are lots of commemorative sites for famous and influential Brits. When they sat us for Evensong, we were in Poet’s Corner, which was pretty neat to see. The chorus sounded absolutely gorgeous, and the service lasted about an hour.
We left the abbey and headed to Harrod’s. Today was the first day of the only sale of the year there, so the grandfather of department stores was extremely crowded. It was fun to be there and find some souvenirs.
After Harrod’s, we went back to the hotel to drop our bags off. We went to dinner down the street from our hotel at a pub called Swan’s. This place had a history dating back to the 1700s, which was awesome. Then we came back to the hotel and packed… we check out of this hotel in the morning. We still have until Monday morning to be in London, but Brooke and I have a hotel closer to Stansted airport tomorrow night. We’re planning on making the most of our last day in England tomorrow, so I’m going to get some sleep. Maybe our next hotel will have free Wi-Fi so I can get these posts up!
Night!
Annie
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