Groundlings in the Wooden O

I'll start at the end of the evening first, the highlight of our day. Wendy and I got cheap tickets (5GBP) to The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe theater. We enjoyed the Elizabethean experience of being "groundlings" a.k.a. tickets so cheap that you don't even get to sit down. The Globe, as you probably know, is a circular building around an open-air courtyard - "the wooden o". 700 people pay to stand in the yard during the show although it was 1,000 in Shakespeare's time and they only paid a penny each back then. Wendy and I queued up early and were nearly the beginning of the line so we had our choice of where to stand when the house opened. We leaned on the stage for the show and had a fabulous 3 hours! I'll never go back to seats again :)

We started the day by running some errands - post office, drug store... Then we walked the few blocks to Harrod's and spend some time among the pets, pianos, perfume, pomegranates and pantyhose that were for sale. We got the tube from Knightsbridge to Chancery Lane and walked the rest of the way to one of my favorite pubs, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. After our panini sandwiches and beverages we crossed the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern. We wandered through the art for a bit then settled on a porch overlooking the Thames for lattes and tiramisu. We went next to wait in line outside The Globe and you know the rest.

I'm sure our feet will recover from the abuse...eventually.