London Day 3Keep in mind that day three was dreary, cold, and at times it was sleeting. So we did the best we could with these pics. I'm amazed they are in focus as all our hands were shaking for the better part of the day. But we were in London and we were NOT going to waste the day - cold and rainy or not.
We started out the day back on our bus, headed toward the London Eye (a.k.a. "The Wheel"). It is the world's largest ferris wheel and was built for the Millennium celebrations. You can find no better place for sweeping panoramic views of the city and The Thames. Here's a picture we took of it the day before when it was actually sunny:
We did get some pictures. Sorry they're so gray but you can get an idea of the fabulous view. I was happy in The Wheel...it was WARM.
You can't really take your child to London without getting them over to see the newly rebuilt Globe Theater. This replica was built based on a hodgepodge of information garnered from letters and other notes from the time of its heyday during which Shakespeare's famous plays were performed. It is built totally in the old ways, held together by wooden pegs. Very impressive.
Here is what it looks like from the street. It is the only structure that has been built with a thatched roof. Damn that pesky fire they had during The Plague....luckily they were able to get a waiver for this building.
Here is what the stage looks like:
And the stage ceiling. Notice all the very detailed design.
Here is a first-hand view from what they call the penny seats. The "unwashed masses" could stand here and watch the play for a penny. They fit up to 1,000 of those poor unwashed souls in the SRO area before the stage each evening.
Here is a view from one of the upper balconies. This is a working theater so they had school children in that day doing a workshop and they actually performed a scene or two for us. Notice the seats with chairs to either side of the stage...this is where the VERY well to do members of the nobility and other rich folks sat for the performances. They needed the chairs as they could not sit on the balcony benches in the stiff, cumbersome fashions of the day. It wasn't so much about seeing the show in those days, but rather to be seen at the show.
Here is a view of the balcony seats. Notice the open roof...yes it is as near to an exact replica as they could get. Thank GOD we were under the balcony overhang when it started to sleet.
After The Globe Theater, we crossed back over to the other side of the river, stopping along the way at a pub to warm up (if you can call it warm - it was 55 at best in there) and eat beef and ale pies. Man, those pies were good....or maybe they were good because it was warm?
After lunch, we headed back to our bus stop and caught a ride to The Tower of London. Here's a picture of it Tommy took while it was sunny out the day before:
All the convicts which lived in the tower were for the most part what we call political prisoners. They were brought in through Traitor's Gate, walked up the stairs, and placed in whichever tower room or Yeoman Warder's house they were to live in for the duration of their stay.
Here's a picture of a room from The Bloody Tower, named after "alleged" murders of two young princes which occurred there upon the tower stairs. Anyway, doesn't the gentleman in the painting seem to have rather nice prison accommodations? Prisoners were allowed to bring their families and even their servants to stay with them...as long as they paid for everything.
Here's a good picture of The London Bridge from inside The Tower:
After The Tower and a very long wait for our very late bus, we stopped off at KFC (yeah I know...very lame but we were very cold and The Boy was very hungry) and finally took a taxi back to our room to WARM UP and pack.
Oh - it was actually sunny on our second day so we rode up top on our tour bus and got some pretty good pictures.
Sorry, no pics of us. Privacy thing and all that. Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as we enjoyed being in the city of London. Well worth all the shivering and long travel days. If you ever get a chance, do go and do go see as many of the attractions as you can.
I have some other silly pics from Buckingham Palace I'll post in the next few days. But that's all for now.
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Comments
wonderful photos! i cannot believe you went up in that thing though. i don't think i could.
Posted by: honestyrain on March 21, 2006 11:00 AM
Awesome photos. Thanks for posting them. I especially liked the Globe Theatre pics. It must have been thrilling to see it in person.
Posted by: catherine on March 18, 2006 11:45 PM
The Tower was my favorite place we visited in London. We had two little ones with us every time we went, so we never did the Eye.
You got some great shots!!
Posted by: buffi on March 18, 2006 10:59 PM
London Tower looked great. I bet the boy loved that. Prisons are cool :)
Posted by: DrinkJack ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://thepeachpit.net/nav-commenters.gif)
on March 18, 2006 08:47 PM
