Hello again, avid readers! Well, it appears that yet another of the YHA hostels we've ended up in demands a far too great sum of money for me to bother paying for internet. Though, there is a pub within walking distance that has free WiFi for customers. So, I can either pay the YHA for internet, or go down to the pub and have a pint with my internet for the same price. Which would you pick? Exactly. That's why this particular post isn't proper with pictures and all. Now, on with the show.
We've spent yet another day in London, and this time we started with the Museum of London. Thankfully, because it's a museum, admission was free. I'm learning to appreciate the free where I can get it, 'cause this city is damn expensive. It was another museum. It went through the history of London since basically before time, and then right up to the present day. There were artifacts in glass cases and whatnot. And a lot of info boards. I think after this trip I'm gonna be info boarded out for at least a year, if not more. That's really all I have to say about the museum of London. Some of it was interesting, some of it wasn't. It was a museum. We then proceeded to have lunch on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral, since we were nearby anyways. Despite that being the 3rd time we've done that, it has yet to get old.
Next was Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. No, it's not the original one, but it's a replica made in excatly the same fashion. If you've seen Shakespeare in Love you know what it looks like. Round building, open to the air, 3 stories, thatched roof. Very cool. I took the tour and saw the exhibition. I didn't really learn a lot, though I did learn that they signal they're showing a play at 2 pm by running up the flag. Apparently they used this because the majority of the population lived across the river and this was before newspapers where you could check to see if there was a play that afternoon. So they'd put the flag up the flagpole and people across the river would see it and know they could go to the theatre that afternoon. There was also some information about the roof over the stage but that was really only relevant if you got to see it.
Then at 2 pm we went in to actually see a play. Yes, it really is a working theatre. And a good one, at that. We saw As You Like It, which is apparently the play all the good Shakepeare quotes come from. Remember “all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players”? That's from As You Like It. It really was an excellent play, and very enjoyable to watch. The acoustics in the theatre are amazing, too. You could hear nearly everything the actors were saying despite the fact that there's no roof and there were planes going overhead. Really, the sound was just fantastic! The atmosphere was amazing, too. Sitting in an open-air venue seeing a classic play where the actors actually come out into the audience was probably one of the highlights of this trip for me. It was just something about being there, getting absorbed into the surroundings and the words and the costumes. If you are ever in London, go see a play at the Globe. You will not be disappointed. Though I would recommend biting the bullet and actually paying for a seat. When they say standing room around the stage, they really do mean standing room. April and I were watching them from our seats and were very grateful we didn't have to stand for 3 hours. Oh, and get the back rests. Worth every penny, man.
This evening we also managed to get our first drink-in-the-street pint. Oh yes. You go into the pub, order your pint, then take it back out into the street and just stand there as you're drinking it. It's the weirdest thing to see to someone who grew up where you could literally be arrested for having open alcohol in the street. Well tonight we finally got to do it. It was a little strange, especially since they let you take the actual glass glasses out there. You think more would get broken, but apparently not. And you can just leave them there, too. You don't have to take the glass back inside, you can just set it on a window ledge or on the sidewalk next to the building, and they'll send people outside every now and again to pick up the empties. It's weird, but fun to someone who's never experienced it before.
That was our day, today, and I know this won't get posted until tomorrow, so I'll get back to you then.
Well, we've come to our final day in the UK. Tomorrow we fly out of Heathrow around noonish, so it's up and to the airport first thing. So here's what I did on my last day in London.
First up, April and I went to the Natural History Museum. Again, museum=free admission. And I have to say, it was highly enjoyable. Should you be headed to London at some point in the future, it is not to be missed. And I'm not just saying that because they had Charles Darwin finger puppets in the gift shop (I wanted the bigger doll but couldn't justify the expense or the luggage space). It was all about the earth, plate tectonics, minerals and gems, dinosaurs, the human body and how it works. Basically all the things I love and then some. Plus they have a statue of Darwin right in the main hall, you can't miss him. Did I mention I'm a fan of evolution and natural selection? Anyways, it was a really good museum. I suggest you go and see it.
After that April and I parted ways for the afternoon and I took the tube up to Highgate Cemetery. Yes, it is, in fact, a cemetery. But I've wanted to see it ever since I read Necropolis by Catharine Arnold. A little morbid, but this is me we're talking about. I'm a little off to start with. They run tourist tours through every weekday at 2 pm, so I got there at one and wandered around the east side, where you don't need to be with a tour guide to see it. Karl Marx and Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy) are buried there. Marx has a big, monolithic tomb, whereas Douglas Adams has a tiny little tombstone with little more than his name and dates he was alive. Though someone did leave a little dolphin toy on top of it. The east side was cool, all crumbling gravestones and creeping ivy. They've really crammed them in there, too. The graves are pretty much shoulder to shoulder with no room in between. At 2 pm I went on the tour of the west cemetery, which you can only get into as a visitor with a tour guide. It's a creepy, overgrown place that's all shadows and vines. Very atmopsheric. And very cool. It was THE place to be buried back in the 1800's, and a good chunk if high society is buried or entombed there. Right now they're working on conserving it, since it's been in total disrepair for a good 100 years. It's a very cool place, made all the better by how exclusive it seems it is to get in. The guides are very respectful of the fact that it is still a working cemetery, and you aren't allowed to have bare shoulders if you're going inside. I was fascinated, but it wouldn't be that exciting for most people. Oh, and apparently in the new movie Dorian Gray there's a scene in a graveyard, which was filmed at Highgate. I have a picture of the exact spot.
After that I headed down to wander through Hyde Park, which is just one huge green space. But it's a very welcome green space given how much of a concrete jungle London is. I managed to find the Diana Princess of Whales memorial fountain, which I dipped my feet in because the sign said you were allowed to do that. And if the sign says you can do it, that's pretty much an open invitation to me. I also got myself a flake ice cream before going into the park, which was delicious. The guy that sold it to me was a little bummed 'cause it was his birthday and he was working, but he was very much excited about seeing his team play Croatia in a soccer match at Wembley tonight. He looked the football hooligan type, I think. I really enjoyed walking through Hyde Park. After 2 more days of the crush of people that is London it was nice to hear and see trees for a little while.
On the way back to the hostel I stopped in for the spectacle that is Harrod's. And a spectacle it was! You could definitely spend a lot of money in there if you were looking to spend money. I found a mini cupcake in the food court they were charging $5 for. A mini-cupcake! That's one bite! Ridiculous. But it was working because there was actually a line for them. It's the first place I've been in that's sold authentic Gucci stuff. So a little too high-brow for me. But it was worth going in just to see what the other half spend their dough on.
Tomorrow we're back on a plane and back to reality. I plan on posting again with a few more pictures and some final thoughts, but I've no idea how long that's gonna take me, because as soon as I get back there's my brother's wedding. And then I'm headed to Vancouver with Glen. So I can't promise any decent timeline. But just stay tuned and I do promise I'll be back at some point.
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