Free day

Wednesday, July 13, 2005:

Today was a free day where we could go off on our own. We had our usual buffet breakfast at the hotel and headed off on our day of adventures. We decided to be a lot braver and took the London tube (subway). We took the tube to Westminster and saw the House of Parliament/Big Ben up close. A little history we learned on our tour the other morning was that Big Ben actually refers to the bell and not necessarily the tower, itself. It was named after the maker who wasn't actually a very big guy. Go figure!

We then went to Westminster Abbey, which was another cathedral that had the tombs of kings, queens, and other well-known peeps. I actually was under the impression that there would be an actual graveyard but the tombs were actually under the floor of the Abbey. The only famour person we found was Charles Darwin.

We proceeded to head towards Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We walked on the Milennium Bridge to get to the theater. We arrived at the theater a little after noon and made it just in time for the last tour. We got to sit in the theater as they talked about the place. It was VERY cool because it was an exact replica of the theater that Shakespeare where a lot of his plays performed. If you've ever watched "Shakespeare in Love," the theater in the movie is how this one looked like. The guide told stories of how the poorer people would stand in the middle right in front of the stage in any kind of weather. There weren't any toilets so people would go wherever they pleased. I thought I'd add that tidbit in!