I feel as if I've spent the entire day on my feet. Strictly speaking, I haven't, but I've been either standing or walking most of the day.
In the morning, we went as a group to the British Museum. Once we got there, though, we were free to go off on our own and explore whatever interested us. At this point, I might as well just stop writing about the museum, because it basically goes without saying that I went straight for the Rosetta Stone and the Greco-Roman exhibits. Especially the Elgin Marbles. Like yesterday, I took photos, but I'm too tired to sort through all of them and then wait for ages while they upload. I'll post photos when I get back to Oxford.
The entire afternoon was free for us to do whatever we liked, so I left the British Museum around 12:30. I took the Tube to a station relatively close to London Bridge (and by "relatively" I mean it was a 15-minute walk), took some very boring photos of it, and then walked to the Globe. As simple as that sounds, it was somewhat fiendishly complicated. The streets in that area don't make any sense whatsoever - they run at odd angles, go around corners, and turn into each other with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. Add to that massive crowds of tourists, all getting in the way, and you start to get the picture. Once I found the Globe, I then found the ticket office, then the returns queue (to wait and hope for a standby ticket). Around 1:40, someone came along with a ticket for the yard (the standing area on the ground, in front of the stage), so I got in!
The play was wonderful, and the actors did an outstanding job with the play. Much Ado About Nothing is the first Shakespeare play I ever saw performed, so it was fun to be able to see it again. And of course the yard tickets only cost 5 pounds, which is nice. There are downsides, though. One is that there aren't any seats in the yard, so you have to stand up for three hours. Another is that if you are towards the back of the yard, it can be hard to see the stage sometimes (I was lucky and got a spot right next to the stage). And then there's the open-air part of the equation. The seats are under cover. The yard is not. And of course it rained during about three fourths of the performance...
Still, I guess that makes it authentic. I just wish I could have experienced the authenticity while I was wearing my waterproof coat with a hood, instead of a denim jacket. It wasn't really cold out, but the rain was cold, and I was shivering by the end of the performance. On the positive side, though, the waterproofing spray that I used on my leather jacket seems to work, because I used some extra on the bag I had with me today. Nothing inside got wet, and it dried off really quickly, so the inadvertent test proved to be successful.
Our group met back up for dinner at 6 at a Thai restaurant. I don't really know enough about Thai food to say how good the food was, but it seemed all right to me. After that we went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. Some aspects of it were mildly interesting (a theory about who Jack the Ripper was, and what motivated the murders), and other aspects were utterly disturbing. All in all, I think I probably wouldn't have gone if I'd had a choice - the subject matter wasn't all that pleasant and the temperature was steadily dropping.
If I total up how long I've been standing or walking today, I suppose it's no wonder I feel so exhausted. We started to leave for the museum around 9:30, and I got back to my room around 11:30. Apart from an hour for dinner and the Tube ride back after the walking tour, I've been on my feet basically the entire time...which means about 12.5 hours. I'm glad we don't have a full day of touring tomorrow...
In the morning, we went as a group to the British Museum. Once we got there, though, we were free to go off on our own and explore whatever interested us. At this point, I might as well just stop writing about the museum, because it basically goes without saying that I went straight for the Rosetta Stone and the Greco-Roman exhibits. Especially the Elgin Marbles. Like yesterday, I took photos, but I'm too tired to sort through all of them and then wait for ages while they upload. I'll post photos when I get back to Oxford.
The entire afternoon was free for us to do whatever we liked, so I left the British Museum around 12:30. I took the Tube to a station relatively close to London Bridge (and by "relatively" I mean it was a 15-minute walk), took some very boring photos of it, and then walked to the Globe. As simple as that sounds, it was somewhat fiendishly complicated. The streets in that area don't make any sense whatsoever - they run at odd angles, go around corners, and turn into each other with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. Add to that massive crowds of tourists, all getting in the way, and you start to get the picture. Once I found the Globe, I then found the ticket office, then the returns queue (to wait and hope for a standby ticket). Around 1:40, someone came along with a ticket for the yard (the standing area on the ground, in front of the stage), so I got in!
The play was wonderful, and the actors did an outstanding job with the play. Much Ado About Nothing is the first Shakespeare play I ever saw performed, so it was fun to be able to see it again. And of course the yard tickets only cost 5 pounds, which is nice. There are downsides, though. One is that there aren't any seats in the yard, so you have to stand up for three hours. Another is that if you are towards the back of the yard, it can be hard to see the stage sometimes (I was lucky and got a spot right next to the stage). And then there's the open-air part of the equation. The seats are under cover. The yard is not. And of course it rained during about three fourths of the performance...
Still, I guess that makes it authentic. I just wish I could have experienced the authenticity while I was wearing my waterproof coat with a hood, instead of a denim jacket. It wasn't really cold out, but the rain was cold, and I was shivering by the end of the performance. On the positive side, though, the waterproofing spray that I used on my leather jacket seems to work, because I used some extra on the bag I had with me today. Nothing inside got wet, and it dried off really quickly, so the inadvertent test proved to be successful.
Our group met back up for dinner at 6 at a Thai restaurant. I don't really know enough about Thai food to say how good the food was, but it seemed all right to me. After that we went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. Some aspects of it were mildly interesting (a theory about who Jack the Ripper was, and what motivated the murders), and other aspects were utterly disturbing. All in all, I think I probably wouldn't have gone if I'd had a choice - the subject matter wasn't all that pleasant and the temperature was steadily dropping.
If I total up how long I've been standing or walking today, I suppose it's no wonder I feel so exhausted. We started to leave for the museum around 9:30, and I got back to my room around 11:30. Apart from an hour for dinner and the Tube ride back after the walking tour, I've been on my feet basically the entire time...which means about 12.5 hours. I'm glad we don't have a full day of touring tomorrow...
Aww, I'm so glad you got into the Globe! We're really enjoying your London accounts.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for this blog thing so I could comment. I'm making some social progress, I guess. :)
Mama