After my big night last night I over slept this morning! I was aiming to get to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in the morning, and I ended up only just making it for their last tour. Between May and September they only open for tours between 9am and 12pm, as they have productions happening from 2pm.
The Globe is an amazing theatre. It has been completely rebuilt using original 17th Century methods to be an exact replica of the original Globe Theatre. The inside of the theatre is round and the most of the roof is open to allow sunlight in, as they didn't have the electricity for lighting back then. The Globe is still a working theatre and there are 2 different types of viewing areas. If you go to a performance you can buy a 'pleb' ticket, which is only 5 pounds, but it's standing only and is directly below the open roof. On a nice sunny day it shouldn't be such a problem, but when it's raining and you have to stay standing for 3 hours it isn't particularly pleasant. The other typing of viewing consists of actual seats. While this does sound rather fancy, it's only wooden benches to which you can buy a seat cushion if you don't think you'll be able to handle sitting on a wooden bench for the duration of a play. It really is an amazing theatre and I could resist buying a ticket to a play that is being performed tomorrow afternoon. I will be seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is one of my favourite Shakespearean plays. I splashed out and payed for a 'seat'. There is a very good chance of rain in London tomorrow so I don't feel like being exposed to the elements for several hours. The performance looks really interesting, as we got to see some of the props they will be using. Apparently, the Globe Theatre performances are quite interactive with the crowd, so I will be interested to see exactly what that entails.
I should probably mention that we've had beautiful weather in London until today. Since I arrived we've had blue skies and surprisingly hot weather. Then today I woke up and the skies were grey, it was raining and was quite cold. Oh well, London is like that. Tomorrow it could be either raining or sunshine. It's always a surprise.
After the Globe I crossed back over the river and walked to the Temple Church. It was the Church of the Knights Templar. It's a nice little church that is tucked away down a back alley. It is one of the few round churches in England, apparently.
Next I decided to see Dr Johnson's House. Dr Johnson was a writer in the Georgian period and produced one of the earliest, most comprehensive dictionaries of the english language. I'd heard that his house was close by to Temple Church so decided to go and find it. It turned out that it was down a series of small, winding alleyways. It took me longer to find it than I spent in the house.
Dr Johnson's House is where he spent 10 years of his life in London. It has been renovated back to it's original Georgian look. It's quite an interesting little house with information on his life, his work and the people he was most familiar with at the time.
Because it is so cold outside I decided to call it quits after seeing Dr Johnson's House and have come back to the hostel to get warm and comfy before deciding what I want to do for dinner tonight.
I'm sure you'll all be glad that this was a much shorter post!
I'm aiming to get out to Kew Gardens tomorrow, but I think it will depend on the weather.
I will post more tomorrow.
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