London--HAPPY DAY!!

Here I am, outside the exit of the Globe Theater. This was only a pass-through, while we were waiting to board the London Eye. I was rather excited nevertheless. We came back the next day for the actual tour. Maybe we COULD have had a tour this day, but Pamela and I completely missed the entrance, walked all the way around the theater to the exit and went in there. Then we stopped at Starbucks! Starbucks is another beautiful thing about London. I could get my favorite hot chocolate. We then decided we should head on back to the EYE.

This is actually a recreation of Shakespeare's Globe, not very far from the site of the original Globe. It's as exact a copy as they could do with modern safety requirements, and the like. Completely FASCINATING! The tour was great. Just the way I like them--short and to the point. Not too much yakety-yak about every little detail. Perfect!

Those of you who know me will know that I kind of like Shakespeare. So this was a special treat for me...




The gate is a work of art! They employed some incredible number of smiths (or something) to contribute to this gate. It's pretty nifty.

But when we got inside...

After Notting Hill, we were so tired that the first exciting thing we found was a sofa in the ladies' restroom. We were loathe to leave it. I had considered USING the restroom, but I never made it past the sofa. We had to really consider...should we go and see the exhibit before the tour?? Yeah, I guess we should. So off we went!

Then, and I am almost ashamed to admit it, but Beth and I both felt the same way...there were WAY too many things to read in the exhibit! We had no interest in that! There were walls of words!!! No way! And yes, I am an English teacher! What could they really tell us that we wouldn't already know anyway?? We wanted VISUALS!!


This was a start!


This was a model of the theater "auditorium." Good thing I took this picture, because it was impossible to get this shot inside the real theater from our vantage points.


Neat!!


I like these kinds of things. Shows the creativity and importance of Shakespeare (whoever he was).


I liked this poster simply because I use that phrase a lot and there it was, with a picture of Shakespeare. Since I didn't read anything, I have to guess that this is about the identity question of Shakespeare. Hmm. Bacon, DeVere, James I? Maybe. Who cares? The play's the thing! (The plays are...the thing).


So here we were enjoying what we could see of the exhibit, and I noticed the groovy ceiling panels...so who was lying down on the floor, in the middle of the big exhibit room taking pictures of the ceiling? Yes, your truly. And I am not sorry! =)


Earth and moon...far out!


David, our guide, had a lovely accent, I must say. I don't love all the British accents, but his was nice.


The stage!


Stage ceiling, with its depiction of all 12 zodiac signs.


Scales! And I am not just taking this picture because it is my sign. Some of my FAVORITE people are also Libras...OK, there has to be at least one I could name! Somewhere out there. =)


The tour doesn't take people ON stage, so this was as close as I could get to my theater debut. =)


The view FROM the Globe is as good as the view OF the Globe, I dare say.