On day 11 we visited the Globe Theater, Tower of London, and the National Gallery of Art.
We decided to start our day a little later than usual because of our long day trip to Chatsworth yesterday. We began by going to Shakespeare's Globe first. We missed the 10am tour so we explored the museum first and then went on the 10:30 tour. Our tour was pretty crowded (about 50 people) and our guide was fantastic.
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| The Globe |
She told us that the current Globe is a recreation of the original building. It was finished in 1997 (spearheaded by an American) and it is sited where they think the original building was located. Also, it is the only thatched roofed building in London.
During the summer they perform plays by Shakespeare and modern playwrights. When we were visiting, the theater was performing Julius Cesar and Antiochus Epiphanes which is why the stage was tinted pink (from the fake blood) and it was wrapped in black cloth.
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| Inside of The Globe |
While we were on our tour, actors were rehearsing on the stage (that evening was a teenage boy's first performance). The director called for silence and four actors rehearsed for about five minutes. It was amazing!! I've never been a huge Shakespeare fan, but seeing the story performed live made it come to life. It was so captivating! After our tour, we finished exploring the exhibition and drooling over the gorgeous costumes.
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| Actors rehearsing |
When we left the Globe, the ticket line was out of the building and down the street. I would definitely recommend arriving earlier in the day because there were only ten people in line when we arrived at 9:45ish.
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| Inside The Globe museum |
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| Incredible details! |
Next we visited the Tower of London. Originally we chose to see the Globe and the Tower of London on the same day due to their proximity (they are across the river from each other). However, I would recommend doing them both first thing in the morning on separate days. We may have missed the massive crowds at the Globe, but we sure found them when we went to the Tower. There were adults and children EVERYWHERE!!!
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| Our fantastic Yeoman Warder tour guide for the Tower of London |
After we purchased our tickets (expensive!!) we went on a tour led by a Yeoman Warder (I LOVE a good tour!). There is no additional cost for the tour, it is the only way to gain admission into the church on the grounds, and the Yeomen are charming, funny, and bring history to life...at least ours did.
On our tour we saw traitor's gate (where everyone to be executed entered the Tower), the outside of the building where Anne Boleyn was held, heard some horrible execution stories, and entered the chapel where several famous people (including Anne Boleyn) are buried.
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| Traitor's Gate |
One of my favorite parts of our tour was after our Yeoman finished telling us several gruesome execution stories he told all of the Americans in the tour, "All of this could have been yours if you had only paid your taxes" lol.
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| White Tower |
After our lovely tour, we went to see the crown jewels. The line was long, but it moved quickly. We discovered that there is a conveyor belt for visitors on either side of the crown jewel cases so people will not impede the flow of traffic. Brilliant! I rode the conveyor belt twice to get a better look at the jewels which were amazing and very sparkly.
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| Guarding the crown jewels |
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| Line to see the crown jewels |
We had a late lunch at the cafe, visited the gift shop, went into one of the buildings and left. I would have liked to have seen the White Tower and King Henry's armor collection, but we were also visiting the National Gallery that day so we needed to leave. Plus it was super crowded, hot, and sweaty.
The Tower of London was really cool, but I wished we would have visited the Tower first thing in the morning because we could have missed some of the intense crowds and been able to see more.
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| View of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London |
Next we visited the National Gallery. They have an AMAZING art collection!!!. However, they do not allow photography so you will have to take my word on it. Like the Tower of London, the National Gallery was also extremely crowded. I only had 1 1/2 hours to explore the museum so I didn't get to spend as much time with the art as I would have liked. However, I was able to see a Caravaggio, Vermeer, Rembrandt, tons of Impressionist works, etc. I would highly recommend visiting this world renown museum :) .
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| The National Gallery, London |
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| Mosaic floor inside the National Gallery |
Afterwards, we tried to explore Trafalgar Square, but they were setting up for a concert so we were not able to investigate the memorial or the lions. Then we had some excellent Indian food at a restaurant that was only a five minute walk from where we were staying (God bless the internet).
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| Trafalgar Square lion |
All of the sites we visited were incredible and I would highly recommend that you visit them all!! My biggest suggestion would be to spread them out instead of seeing them all in one day. Go to each site first thing in the morning and you are far more likely to avoid lines, beat the crowds, take your time, and see more of the site.
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