London Baby - Day Two

We got up and went to Starbucks this morning and then headed right over to the Globe Theater to go on the tour of the place. We figured that since we couldn't actually see a play there we could at least take a tour. They taught us all about how they constructed it, just like the original Globe in Shakespeare's day....even with a thatched roof (they said that they had to get special permission for thatched roofs since they were banned in London after the original Globe burned down). While on the tour we got to see the stage close up and we got to see the gentleman's box (where the wealthy people sat). The King or Queen would sit right behind the stage to show that they were better off then everyone else. Then even though we knew that they didn't have tickets for "The Merchant of Venice" we went to the box office and asked again to see if there were any cancellations. They told us we could go out front and wait in the line to see if somebody that had extras would sell them...so we went out there and got in the line and without much trouble we got some really good tickets so we ended up getting to go see the play.

The Merchant of Venice is about a business man that barrows money from another man (who is from the Jewish quarter) and then loses his fortune when his ships don't come in (literally). The agreement that he has with the lender is that if he can't pay back his debt, the man from the Jewish quarter can take a pound of his flesh. It was a really good play and I am SO glad that we were able to get tickets. My Aunt says that if Shakespeare is done poorly, it can be really bad, but if its done well, it can be really good. This was really good! She has seen another Shakespeare play here before (Romeo and Juliette) and she really liked that one too. So, if anyone is ever in London....I would highly recommend seeing a play here!

By the time we got out of the play, it was 5pm. We spent nearly the whole day there! So, we had to get moving fast. We walked down the river and went across the Westminster bridge to put us directly in front of Big Ben, West Minster Abbey, and Parliament. There, we met up again with Tanya and walked to Buckingham palace. I had fun doing that but I really liked what we did after that.

We headed over to the London towers and after it was dark we took a Jack The Ripper tour. The tour takes you to the places that he killed his victims. It was really creepy and two people fainted. The tour guide explained all about the 1800's and how the city of London was back then. The murders happened in the fall of 1833 there was the industrial revolution going on and the east end of the city (where the murders happened) were all slums. He killed prostitutes, and there were a LOT of prostitutes in those years because the city was in a major depression. It was definitely creepy but also so cool to learn about.