Brush up your Shakespeare

Way up on our list of THINGS TO DO IN LONDON is a visit to Shakespeare's Globe Theater, a recreation of the Elizabethan stage where many of his plays were first performed.

We enter the tube and try to figure out what train will take us across town:


Mind the gap!

Then we walk to the Millenium Bridge....


Kobi's Travel Philosophy:
Why walk when you can ride?

And pause for a family photo...



Halfway across the world to stand halfway across the Thames.


And pause to marvel at the marketing for a building under construction:

That's not a building. It's just a picture on saran wrap.


At the Globe, we get a tour from a friendly guide who gives us lots of details about the audiences of Shakespeare's day. Also -- he pops our "Shakespeare in Love" bubble -- it turns out the movie lied. The Queen would never have come to the theater to see a Shakespeare play.


Everything you always wanted to know about where people went to the bathroom when they were at the theater in the 1500's...but were afraid to ask.

The Globe Theater was (and is) open to the sky, and the reproduction is quite faithful. No electric lights or amplification.


The Globe Theater as it began to rain.


Tenzin on the second balcony.


Maggie, Tenzin, Jen and Karma decided to stay for the 2 pm show of "Anthony and Cleopatra" while Mark and Kobi went off to explore the waterfront.

The play is wonderful, and we sit in the stage left pews, until the final scenes are so exciting that we join the small crowd standing in the rain in front of the stage. Maggie draws the attention of one of the actors, who, while playing it a bit tipsy, does a bit referring to her, which gets a nice laugh from the crowd and a blush from her.


Maggie really, really enjoyed the play. That rope was used to hoist Cleopatra to her balcony at the end of the play.

Meanwhile Mark and Kobi go the Tate Modern, and, apparently, visit the gift shop:


Kobi and book.

It's our last night in London, and we relax in our room at the Jesmond Hotel on Gower Street, a bed and breakfast with the inventive "Quint" lodging, which consists of five beds and a bath in one room. Here's a photo of four of us in the room (that's Karma's toe):


Don't think of it as crowded.
Think of it as cozy.