Fantastic Day

What a fantastic day this was! Deciding to walk along the Thames River, we were able to explore some amazing sites while enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Between the Milennium Bridge and the Tower Bridge, perhaps not much more than mile as the crow flies, there were so many places of interest, we could have easily spent a week in just this area. What is presented here are just the highlights of our day's journey:

"The Globe Theater" - in 1970, the American actor Sam Wanamaker founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust dedicated to reconstructing this famous Elizabethan theater. No documents remain as to the exact nature of the original structure. However, several proposed structural drawings do provide some insight that indicate other theaters of the time were polygonal in shape. Excavations at the original site of the Globe theater seemed to indicate that it was actually a 20 sided building measuring 100 feet in diameter. Wanamaker's Globe Trust began construction of the new Globe Theater according to 16th century building practices. The design for this reconstruction was based on existing buildings of the same age. Many experts feel that, without the actual design specifications, this is as close a representation of The Globe Theater of Shakespeare's time as we can get. Performances of Shakespeare's plays are held twice-per-day (afternoon and evening) here and prices range from 5 pounds for standing positions to 43 pounds for box seats.

The reconstructed Globe theater as seen from the Milennium bridge.

During Elizabethan times, plays were very much interactive with the audience. Soliloquies were directed at the audience to let them know what the actors were thinking.

The more general purpose seating galleries.

This theater, like others of the time period, were designed to entertain the relatively uneducated populace (you would never find Royalty attending performances here). Still, there were a few more elaborately decorated box seats for the upper middle class who could afford the price for an unobstructed side view of the stage.

The two supporting columns on either side of the stage were carved from a 400 year old tree that had been alive at the same time as Shakespeare.

The blue banner above the stage represented "the Heavens" for various plays. This hid a ceiling trap door from which actors who might be representing Angels could be suspended.

Photo of an actual performance taking place.

"Southwark Cathedral" - just a short walk along the Thames, from the Globe theater, is the Southwark Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St. Savior and St. Mary Overie. This is the Mother Church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. Religious structures of some sort or other have been on this site for over 1400 years. In 1106, a church dedicated to St. Mary was built here but was destroyed by fire in 1212. Reconstruction was quickly started and was completed in the first half of the 14th century. There is even a tie to Boston, as John Harvard, founder of Harvard University, was baptized and worshiped here.

Southwark Cathedral, mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark.

Looking down the nave past the choir seats.

The elaborately sculptured wall behind the main altar.

This memorial was dedicated to Alderman Richard Humble and his two wives.

The 1897 organ with the coat of arms of Cardinal Beaufort on the right side pillar.

Memorial to William Shakespeare who worshipped here.

  "The Borough Market"- situated next to the Southwark Cathedral is the oldest and most renowned marketing London. It features exceptional British, as well as international, produce and food products. Last year, the Borough Market celebrated its 1000th birthday.

Stalls such as this one offer a unique food experience.

One of the staples of British meals is the meat pie. The variety offered here is staggering .

The Ethiopian meat stall. We never saw pans this large before.

This picture does not really do justice to just how large these cookies were. They were a meal into themselves.

"The Tower Bridge" - originally described to us as the London Bridge (which actually is the bridge next to this one and is rather plain looking compared to this one), the Tower Bridge was constructed between 1886 and 1894. It is a bascule ( or leaves which could be raised to allow marine traffic to pass) and suspension bridge. At one end of the bridge is the Tower of London, which provided the name for this structure. The two central towers are connected near the top by horizontal walkways. The current Red, White, and Blue color scheme was created in 1997 for Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. In 1877 a committee was formed to develop a design for this bridge but one was not approved until 1884. Since much of London was destroyed by World War II bombings, we asked how the Tower Bridge made out. Apparently, the Germans felt that this landmark made an excellent orientation point for locating other structures to bomb, thus they left it alone.

The Tower Bridge behind the HMS Belfast, Britain's largest cruiser.

The two central bascules (or draw bridge halves) are raised to allow tall ships to pass through easily.

At both ends of the horizontal walkways above the bridge are informational theaters which provide visitors with interesting background. This one showed an animated movie on the building of the bridge. Here, the bridge has been completed and is in the raised position to let a ship pass.

Much to my dismay, each of the walkways contained glass floors for a dizzying look at the roadway below. (Whose idea was it to look down?).

On the end of the bridge opposite the Tower of London, is the engine room for raising and lowering the bridge. On estimate, this is done three to four times per day. While ships are not charged any fees for this service, they must notify the bridge operators 24 hours in advance of their arrival.