London Day Three

    After a hearty breakfast, we gathered before heading to the tube. Our station seemed to be the Chamber of Secrets. 

The tube map is incredible. It is fairly easy to navigate, but it looks very complicated.

We crossed the Thames on the Millennium Bridge, which afforded us this great view.

    On the other side of the bridge resides the new Globe Theater. Originally built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames. It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and stayed open until the London theatre closures of 1642. It was also burned down. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 quite close to the original site. London has been the site of many fires, big and small. They have had so many fires that it's hard to say "the great fire" with any sort of accuracy. I was impressed with the way they decided to mitigate this by making sure fire doors are installed in every edifice. 

    We split into 2 groups for a tour followed by an acting class. I took some shots upstairs near the gift shop. They had this dress on display.

Our first look outside the theater itself. We got a brief history, then ascended the stairs to take our place in the upper seats. 

    The crew is incredible. They do 3 different shows a day, and the set crew has to reset it after each show. While we were there, they were taking down the previous show and setting up the western Romeo and Juliet. They were very efficient. 

This is a fun video of that production.

    Can you see those bloody handprints? They get a new one each show, so the panel resembles a horror scene more than a love story. Our guide, Georgia, was fantastic. She is an actor there and taught our class.

Look how thrilled they are.

    I'm thrilled! The class was down the street a bit in another building, which is where they teach. Finally, we got into theater games! The kids loved this. 

I had to get a selfie in the throne used for all the royalty in the plays. 

    Then we headed to the gift shop. Lizzy found a plague rat she bought and named Patrick, later she changed his name to Ratrick. I got a deck of cards. 

    Then we walked to the Borough Market. It's a foodies paradise. Claudia let us roam a bit.

    Speaking of the globe, we passed the first ship to circumnavigate it. The Golden Hind was a galleon captained by Francis Drake between 1577 and 1580. Originally known as Pelican, Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was, you guessed it: a golden hind. 

    We gathered here to figure out our next few hours. We had free time, and there was an abundance of tantalizing things to snag your interest. As part of the program, we received £10 to spend in the market. One of the bills had Jane Austen on it, and no one seemed to know who she was, much to my horror. Earlier, we passed a sign that said we were in Cheapside, mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, and I nearly lost it. I did get to educate some of the kids and a few adults about her greatness.

    Before we left for this trip, I asked Daniel for a blessing, and in it, I was told that my knowledge would be helpful to others as I shared it. Initially, I was sharing mostly with Lizzy, and it was interesting to see how she would almost immediately share that tidbit with others. I was glad that I could share something that gives meaning to a place or object.

The Borough Market really lives up to the hype. It reminded me of Pike Place in Seattle.

Look at the size of these English muffins!

    Lizzy chose chocolate-covered strawberries as her first course. I was still full, so I just wandered around a bit. Lizzy and I tried to tour the Southwark Cathedral, but it was closed at that moment. 

Instead, I had some excellent ice cream.

We visited a nice gift shop where I met the Queen.

    Later, Shelia, Ren, Rowan, Lizzy, and I decided to go to the art museum, but then we were distracted by the Clink. The Prison was so notorious that it gave the rest of them their name. Ren really wanted to tour it, so we did. There was a school group touring it, so we kind of had to go around them. 

    It was really interesting in a gruesome way. 

Here's Lizzy demonstrating thumb screws.

This plaque was fun.

    Next to the Clink is the remains of the Winchester Palace's great hall. It stands as a reminder of the past while simultaneously bringing a moment of calm in a bustling thoroughfare. As I was reading this sign, I witnessed two white butterflies dancing among the remains.

    We returned to the Cathedral and were allowed in this time. It was a bit confusing; there is a façade, and the signs were not particularly clear. Sheila and I had used the restroom while the girls went in. When we called them to find out where they were, they said downstairs. We took the elevator down and found a store room. So we returned to the top and went the other way and found the entrance to the cathedral. Shelia took a seat while I wandered. I love places of worship; the idea that so many people wanted to express their love of God through an edifice.  Each is unique and inspiring. I was reminded of the abbey in Ireland that Daniel and I toured on our honeymoon. This cathedral had marble in a similar fashion: a multi-marble clover design. I told Lizzy about the green marble and how it was native to Ireland.

I met William Shakespeare.

    Here's Zoey, she bought the other plague rat, her's is Romeo. She has POTTS disease, as well as Rowan. So they both needed to rest quite often. Luckily, it was quite cool and peaceful in the cathedral. The priest did a prayer service, and it was nice to linger. 

    For dinner, we headed to the Coal Hole. "Rumour has it, The Coal Hole occupies what was once the coal cellar for the Savoy Hotel! In the Victorian era, the pub was a well-known 'song and supper' club where regulars were encouraged to sing comical songs and sentimental ballads. Gilbert and Sullivan regularly performed here in Edwardian times, and the Shakespearean actor Edmund Keane started the Wolf Club here for oppressed husbands forbidden to sing in the bath!"site.

    To get to it, we walked through Chinatown. "London’s original Chinatown was in the East End where Chinese employees first rocked up in the 18th century, settling in Limehouse. By 1914 a Chinese community was burgeoning with new restaurants and shops catering for sailors.

    Today’s Chinatown’s story begins with the Great Fire of London. In the panic to rebuild, attention turned to a military training ground on farmland. The area’s owner, Lord Gerrard gave permission for houses to be built. Gerrard Street was completed in 1685, then later a market hall and slaughterhouse. Voila, Soho was born." site.

    We were seated in the Cellar. We were served bangars and mash, which were unfortunately overdone. A few were so hard they couldn't be eaten. As before, most of the kids wouldn't eat it. They did like the dessert, though. We were served a "brownie" with ice cream, but it was more like a lava cake. It was nice.

    After dinner, we got our first view of the West End. We stopped in Leicester Square Park to take in the sculptures and view. They had a tennis match playing on a large screen.

Our first West End Show was Hadestown, played at the Lyric Theater. 

Here's their trailer:

    I started here in the middle, but the seats were so tight I could barely bend my knees, so I switched seats with Rown so I could be on the end. I was surprised that there were seats placed behind pillars. People actually sat in those seats; they paid for an obstructed view!

    The show was incredible! It was beautiful and heartbreaking. Even knowing the storyline, it was amazing. 

It was a wonderful end to an amazing day.