May 28: The Globe Theatre, St. Paul's, The British Museum, and a play

Today we saw the Globe Theatre, St. Paul's Cathedral -- we climbed to the very top! -- the British Museum, and watched the West End play Singing in the Rain, which was brilliant.  We climbed over 1500 stairs today, in a hot and muggy city, but it was well worth it!

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The scheduled tube works at our station were completed by this morning, but there were two signals not working, so we ended up having to take a detour route, along with hundreds of other people.  When we got to St.Paul's station, there was a line-up for the escalator, so Alanna headed for the stairs and I followed right behind.  The Piccadilly line is the deepest, so we ended up climbing over 200 stairs before breakfast!

We went around St. Paul's Cathedral and over the Millenium Bridge.  

Just at the other end is the Globe Theatre, built as close to the original Shakespearean theatre as possible. The productions are as close to authentic as is feasible, using costumes made in styles and fabrics that would have been available to actors in Shakespeare's day.  They do use rubber soles on the oak floors, and although the first productions were all male, they have since changed to coed casts. 

Unfortunately, there were no tours available today, and we didn't know that our London Passes were good for only one entry, so we would have to pay six pounds each for the tour of the stage, which is what we had really hoped to see. We got to see a costume demonstration, which was very good, as were the sections on the publishing of the plays, the building of the new theatre using old techniques, and the music of Shakespeare.  I was disappointed by the gift shop, as I was looking for classroom aides, and the shop was big on t-shirts, but not so big on pictures.

The Queen Elizabeth Outfit

Next stop was St. Paul's Cathedral.  Pictures were not allowed inside, but we were particularly impressed by the tombs of some famous people, including Wellington, Sullivan, John Donne, Blake, Florence Nightingale and the Falklands Memorial.  We were both surprised to find that Sullivan had written "Onward Christian Soldiers".  We decided to skip Eucharist at 12:30, but felt a little awkward walking around the church while the service was going on.  I was impressed by the baldachinno over the high alter, which looks very much like the one at St. Peter's in Rome. The mosaics over the quire are very colourful, but the use of gold throughout reminded me of San Marco.

After we had viewed the main floor, we climbed the 257 steps up to the Whispering Gallery, which lives up to its name, as everyone there was whispering.  At 376 steps, we arrived at the Stone Gallery,which is outside, and give a good view of the whole city.  At 528 steps, one arrives at the Golden Gallery, 85 metres from the Cathedral floor.   It wasn't the height that bothered me, but rather the fact that one could see through the metal steps in the final section.  Well, I guess my legs kind of bothered me too.

Every green space and every square was well used on this beautiful hot day.

View from the Stone Gallery

Me on the Golden Gallery -- a bit out of puff!

World's scariest steps

Queen Anne on the statue commemorating the completion of Wren's Cathedral.

After a salad for me and a sandwich for Alanna, we headed off to the British Museum.  We walked so that we could see a bit more of London, since one sees very little from the Tube.

the old mixes with the new throughout the city.

Robe makers on Chancery Lane.

You can rent these bikes and return them to any stand in London.

  I enjoyed seeing the Egyptian artefacts again, but I was thrilled to see the items from so many of the places Ian and I have so recently visited:  the tomb of Mausolus from Bodrum, the seated gods from Didyma, items from Miletus, Rhodes, Crete, and of course the Acropolis Marbles.  I was interested to note that the British Museum had a sign that said the items were being split between Athens and the British Museum, which was appropriate, since Athens was showing items that were of locale interest, and the British Museum was showing how they fit into world history.  I can't wait to show Ian all my pictures.

Remember the Hittites, Ian?

. . . and the Cycladic figures?. . .

This geometric vase is made by stamping the clay, and is five feet tall!

This is from a friexe at Xanthos

The Nereid Monument, also from Xanthos

Alanna's favourite:  Venus bathing.

A scene from the frieze at the Acropolis

A horse from the tomb of Mausolus

We went to the Palace theatre to see Singing in the Rain, which had excellent singing and dancing, although it was a bit of an education to Alanna on why some seats are much less expensive.  We sat up in the balcony, and couldn't see the first third of the stage.  We managed to have a wonderful time anyway.  There were a couple of new numbers, and the rain storm on stage was really fun!  The dancing was wonderful. but my favourite part of the show is when Cosmo says goodnight to himself while Cathy and whatshisname are kissing, and a child in the audience just kept laughing.  Everyone laughed right after he did.  It was a hoot!

We've just heard from Lyssa, who is on her way to Sterling.  I hope she has as good a trip as we are having.