London Bridge Is...

I had to say it sometime, We walked the Millennium Bridge today from the Globe to St. Paul's. It's  a relatively new bridge so it is neither falling down nor sold to the highest bidder.

The Millennium Pedestrian Bridge

Today was supposed to be our easy day since we're leaving tomorrow and have to pack. But it turned into our usual day--we went to the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, and St. Paul's Cathedral and got back later than we wanted to.

First we went to the Tate Modern which was packed for a Monday. There are always school groups with sketch pads at all the museums but we were shocked at how crowded it was both with school children and lots of other people. It's a very nice building but we didn't spend too much time there. 

The Globe is just a short walk away. Neither one of us quite understood that the Globe is an exact replica of the original and that the Wannamaker theatre is next door. The Globe, since it is open air, is used only in the summer. The guidebook said take the tour which, for the first time, turned out to be a bad idea. Our guide seemed like a nice girl but the memorized speech seemed to be more appropriate for schoolchildren. She asked a lot of questions, like "Has anyone ever read a Shakespeare play?" and "Does anyone know what the plague was?" The rest of the speech was about how dirty everyone was during Shakespeare times.

The Globe Outside (Wannamaker Theatre to the left)

 We learned a few new facts, like they used to pack 4000 people in the theatre but now they seat 1750. There are just benches so it wouldn't be comfortable; plus, they use only candles for lighting.  Of course, there are no groundlings today but that's not a big space anyway. We also learned it has the first legal thatched roof in London since the Great Fire.  There were loads of school groups there and their guides took the group onto the stage to say a line, usually "Is that a dagger I see before me?" Then we all cheered.  I guess if you're an adult, they won't let you do that.

The stage roof or "heaven" with a trapdoor to lower a good character

 

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The Globe Theatre inside

We had shepherd's pie at the Swan Restaurant in the tradition of always eating in the museum or store we're in at lunch time. It was a cute place and the food was good. We got peas with the meal and they were not the mushy peas.

After that, we decided to run into St. Paul's since we were there. That turned out not to be a quick run-in. The cathedral is massive, of course, with a lot of things to see.  They charge admission but you get an audio guide with that and this one was really great--it had pictures and short videos in addition to the explanations. I often don't like audio guides but was really happy both with this one and the one at Westminster. You are allowed to climb the upper floors to the top of the dome but that means climbing over 500 steps. The Jesus chapel in the nave is especially moving. It is dedicated to the Americans who lost their lives in England or on the way to England in WWII. There's a book with all the names in a glass display case and they turn one page a day. The guide said they have a replica of the book to show people who ask to see specific names.  
There were several short films about events that have been held there but the wedding of Charles & Diana was not the main theme, I am happy to report.

St. Paul's--side; we didn't get a picture of the front.

We're leaving London tomorrow so we had to summarize the experience. We've been very lucky to have such nice weather. I think we had our umbrellas out twice and just briefly. I just got lost a few times (per day) and we saw a lot of cool things. We learned that to get the senior discount, we say "2 concessions." Apparently, a concession is a student or old person. We finally learned to use the washing machine but despite the knowledge, still hate it.   We learned that while it's difficult to find a street sign in London, there's  "You Are Here" signs everywhere, making it easy to get around. We've had fabulous food, including some British traditional food, Indian, Italian, and tapas tonight at a restaurant one block from the apartment. We have found that the Brits can really cook liver to perfection and also the quality of the lamb is much better than we usually get.  So, overall, a jolly good time and onto Bath.