Westminster & Shakespeare

We started our morning off with a visit to Westminster Abbey and walk through the government district. The walk from our tour book finished up at Trafalgar Square where we took in the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.

Westminster Abbey was fascinating. We saw the burial places of Queen Elizabeth I and many other monarchs. Also on display is the coronation chair. Sorry but no pictures inside the Abbey.

The National Gallery was also great. My favorite piece had to be the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait.

After an early dinner we headed over to the Globe Theatre and watched a production of Macbeth.

That was thoroughly entertaining. Seeing it performed there really puts the contemporary productions into perspective.

View of the Houses of Parliament from over the bridge.

And Big Ben.

Westminster Abbey: for such an important building, it's actually not very large.

I'm not sure if this picture is "legal" but it was outside the main building, supposedly it's Britain's oldest door. According to the sign, most likely constructed in the 1050s.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields has brass rubbings that you can do. Here's me working on one. It's more work than you think.

Tah dah!

The Globe Theatre from across the Millennium Bridge.

The cheap seats had to perform as part of the set as a scene from Dante's Inferno.

And a view of the inside of the theatre.

Look what came in the mail today....

Tickets for Shakespeare at the Globe! Yay! I was so excited when I found out that Macbeth would be on schedule during the time we're in London this summer. It's one of the few plays that I have read. No thanks to years of torture from Liz, who never had us read the "normal" books in High School. But that's okay, I have taken it upon myself to read the classics in my free time. Which with graduate school hasn't been that often but I am making progress. Anyways..I digress. Macbeth is also neat b/c when we get up into Scotland we're gonna try and see Cawdor Castle (which actually was not built until the 15th cen. so there's no way the Macbeth or Duncan ever saw the thing). I think that I picked out pretty good seats. I did my research (of course! Who do you think you talking to?) and picked out which seats would offer the best views. According to the Globe's website, all seats will have some sort of fault. I was more concerned with me being short and being able to see over the person in front of me. So I picked tickets in the front. And I'm glad I got them early b/c tickets go fast! Our vacation cannot come soon enough!