Torture, Theatrics and Shakespeare

From the days we were planning our trip to London I wanted to visit the Globe Theatre. On my last visit I had regretted not seeing it at all. So the morning of I rushed Ben to get there. We found the correct tube route to take and then crossed a ultra modern foot bridge to get there. Luckily, when we arrived we did not have to wait a long time for the next tour, because it was happening within the half in hour that we happened by, so we bought tickets and explored the historical possessions of the theatre. Amongst these historical possessions there were many costumes from the theatre's hay day as well as examples of what the actors would do to get ready for their plays. The little museum also had how the Globe came to be (in its current state). We were told to listen for a bell and meet at the bottom of the stairs next to a prop tree, when it went off we quickly went down the stairs. We were met by a surprised staff person holding a bell that was not being rung. After everyone was gathered they announced, "We did not mean for the alarm to go off, but it got all of you here quickly, especially since we have a slightly bigger group then normal". It had been a mistake! What we thought was a bell was an alarm. I'm sure Shakespeare was laughing somewhere about our human instinct to follow directions. Ah well, our tour guide was quite enthusiastic at our group explaining why he thought we were all there. So his introduction was short. We were taken outside, the guide quickly explained that the thatch roof was the only one in London, for after the great London fire thatch rooves were banned.
"Well I guess you all want to see the theatre, so let's go in" said the guide. We all entered into the great theatre. It was round as I expected and open air as I expected. We sat up in what would be the rich people's area if we had been in the medieval era. The guide allowed us just to look around, which was what we seemed to need. There were a few questions asked, but I just found them common sense, as I had learned everything about the Globe, Shakespeare etc while in school and I had read a book on Shakespeare as well. But I took pictures and was proud to have accomplished coming to the Globe. After the tour of the Globe was done the guide told us about another theatre that was being built, he also told us that there would be play that afternoon. I would have loved to have gone to a play, but I knew we had other things that needed to be seen. Not before we stopped at the Globe's gift shop where I felt as if I should take the whole store home, luckily I found a few things and we paid for them. The Globe was everything that I had expected and it had been wonderful! It was lunch time and we were hungry so after exciting the Globe we found a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a bit of Greek food. It had been a pleasant morning.
After our lunch we decided to head back to the Tower of London. We found the right tube route and got there quickly. When we paid for our tickets the person at the desk said we only had a few hours, but we thought it was worth it. The Tower was holding a special exhibit on armour so we thought we would take a look. There was quite a display! There was armour for horses and for people. There was even a small set of armour for a small prince. Besides the armour, we toured the piece of the Tower that used to be for torturing people. They showed a large machine that would pull people apart. It was gruesome thinking about all the things they could do to people. We also explored the apartments of the nobility if they had to be imprisoned. The apartment showed the story of a certain royal family (forgive me for not knowing my kings) that their sons were held captive with them. The story continued on stating that the sons mysteriously disappeared one day and know one knows for sure who killed them, whether it was the jealous older cousin, or one of the guards. One could guess after finishing the story. Next to learning about the royalty we also learned that the Tower still had a residence on it. Unfortunately I cannot remember who still lives there. Outside of the residence is a small roost for two crows. The tower always has crows it is just one of their traditions. One thing at the tower that we did not expect to see was the crown jewels. The crown jewels were immaculate! I could not believe that the royalty of England all had their crowns stored in that one place. Each crown told a story of a certain day that that a certain King or Queen wore it. It might have even had a certain place of where that crown was worn. It was incredible. Besides the jewels, it also held all of the royal dishware, from teacups to teapots, all had shining gleaming gold. The royal family certainly has a lot of money under their belt to have such fine things! All in all after our tour through the Tower I thought it was fun, more fun than I thought. When I first came to London I didn't think the Tower was worth seeing inside, but I was mistaken. It had a lot of interesting facts that I had missed about the city. It was dinner time so we had decided to go to the Hard Rock cafe. We asked someone how to get there and they told us the tube stop, so we hopped on the tube, once we got there, we realized it was on the complete other side of the street, not just a back alley street but a large four lane. So we continued marching, thinking we had come that far, we were not giving up just because it was a farther walk than we had imagined. When we got to the cafe we got in a long line, everyone desiring to have a seat. The line did not seem to take very long, once we got to the hostesses she wondered how many people. When she found there were only two of us she asked if the bar was OK to sit at, it would be immediate seating. We said yes, being tired and hungry. Off we went to sit at the bar. It was fun sitting somewhere different than the usual. The food was good as well. Again, London had been well worth the adventure.