My first week was spent visiting friends and catching up on all their activities. Then on Monday David arrived and we moved into a delightful apartment, newly bought by a dear friend as an investment. Luckily for us, she has not begun to rent it and we have had such a great time pretending to be Londoners. Located just down the street from the British Museum, this flat was the home of the great British philosopher, Bertrand Russell. His student, the poet T. S Eliot, shared it for a while.
We have been serious tourists this week, loving all that London has to offer and trying not to be shocked by the number of times we have already been to the cash machines. We comfort ourselves with the new low exchange rate!
We have visited the beautiful Somerset House to view the Courtauld collection of art and then collapsed at their lovely outdoor cafe. We spent several interesting hours in St. Paul's cathedral. Here we were taken
on a tour by a volunteer whose enthusiasm for the cathedral made his advertised 15 minute talk into one of 45 minutes full of stories and information. When he inquired as to people's country of origin, he was most apologetic to us. "I don't think we have much about Canada here. I think there is a statue of John MacDonald somewhere in the crypt." We went to the crypt and while we didn't find Sir John A. here is what we did discover.
David was so outspoken:
". . . came from nowhere!! He is a Canadian!" that the woman behind the desk didn't tell him to put away his camera until after he had taken the photo! To dissipate our irritation, we climbed to the outside gallery of the dome to look out over London.
We spent that evening at the Globe Theatre, an amazing story of the persistence of the distinguished American film actor and director, Sam Wanamaker. Disappointed by the lack of recognition of the importance of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, in 1970 be began fundraising and getting permission to recreate the theatre on its original site. Sadly, he died before it opened in 1997, however its success is a tribute to his vision of a recreated Shakespearean theatre, as close as possible to the original. It is the only building in London allowed to have a thatched roof!
We chose to sit rather than stand as 'groundlings'--up to 700 people who pay £5 to stand in the area in front of the stage for the length of the play--no folding stools or chairs allowed!. We noticed people rubbing their backs and bending over during the play and a definite reduction in their number after the intermission! Even sitting was uncomfortable--wooden benches, somewhat relieved by flat cushions for £1. It was good to be able to stand when the intermission came after an hour and 45 minutes. The production of Henry IV, Part 1
was fun and animated. Actors appeared suddenly in the middle of the 'groundlings' and climbed onto the stage. The backdrops were cleverly changed to denote different settings, the acting was excellent, there were lots of jokes and music. It ended with a rousing rendition of a sort of Frug to Elizabethan music! We left feeling as though we had experienced something special and then had a romantic walk across the Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's lit up in front of us. We will be here for another few days, so more to come on Monday!
