Up, fixed a nice breakfast and caught the Tube, because this morning we are going on a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. This is especially interesting to us because we have for a number of years been members and then volunteer ushers at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. So a chance to go and see Shakespeare’s Globe seemed wonderful.
We went this time to Blackfriar Station and had about a 10 minute walk on a bridge across the Thames and along the river, noticing the boats going by and the bridges. We were soon at the Globe Theatre ready for our tour.
When we arrived, we were amused to see a sign that said they could do pre-booked tours only because there was an international Internet/Microsoft problem that was causing troubles all over the world. And this included not being able to book anymore tickets. Luckily we had gotten ours a couple days earlier and so we’re set with that.
We went on a tour that was about an hour with a delightful young woman guide, Katie, who gave us a lot of background about Shakespeare and the Globe. She took us outside the theater and then the big treat was we got to go inside the house where there were a couple of actors who were rehearsing. We got to eavesdrop on a little bit and then we got to really look at the stage and hear all about how theater was in the days of Shakespeare in the early 1600s. A couple interesting things that we learned was in the standing room area in the front of the theater they would pack in up to 1000 people at a penny apiece. Those people were packed in tight. They would drink beer pretty much the whole time and if you had to go to the toilet outside, you would have to pay to get back in again, which most of the people couldn’t afford to do. It wasn’t uncommon that besides being cramped in and perhaps rained on, the people might just go ahead and pee their pants while they were at the theater. Apparently it was quite a smelly spot. We’re glad this is no longer the custom.
We also got to experience with the acoustics are very good in the theater, but there were some blocked sight lines throughout the theater. And Shakespeare knew this and so often would narrate what is happening so if anybody was blocked behind a post, they could still follow the show. Fascinating background about Shakespeare.
This wasn’t actually the original original Globe Theatre. It was the third theater, that was only rebuilt in the 1990’s but they worked to be as authentic as they could be to the original design. The tour was informative and fun. We have a special place in our heart for Shakespeare and his theater work. So we were especially glad to get a chance to go inside and see it. Afterwards we had a chance to have a few more questions answered, and both of us had a chance to sit in the coronation chair which had been used as a prop in Richard the Third.
After the Old Globe, we caught a boat on the River Themes to Greenwich. We walked just 100 yards down to the pier on the river where an Uber boat was just arriving. We was unclear if we were going to get a chance to get on it but we did so if we could hurry, which we could. It was about a half an hour boat ride took us down to the pier in Greenwich.
This is the famous sight of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian that we measure all time from. Our original plan was to go on a Harry Potter sites tour today, but this was canceled. And so, we have had to pivot.
Luckily Greenwich had a lot of interesting things to do and we had a lovely afternoon there.
Greenwich is a charming place that is especially known for the cutting edge the observatory there from the 1600s. We spent the afternoon seeing a number of really interesting museums and displays in this place that goes back to Victorian times.
The first thing we hopped on was, the Sark Cutty, a clipper ship was the most famous and fastest ship in the world at its time. This ship went back-and-forth from London to China to get tea and later to Australia to get wool. They did a splendid job inside the boat, making all kinds of interactive exhibits and ways to explain how this ship operated and was important in British life. it almost had been scrapped, but was saved and set up as a monument to soldiers and sailors who had died in war and World War II.
We had lots of fun learning more about the process of tea , learning about life on the ship and poking about in all the areas. We had to of course try steering it with the ship wheel and we were really enchanted with the world's largest collection of ship figureheads. There were the classic mermaids, but all types of other ones including dogs, Abraham Lincoln and many other famous people. These have been collected and donated to the museum. Amazing to see those.
After that, we made our way up into the park. We had a little rest against the tree and then went up a very steep hill to the observatory. This is a place in the 1700s where the serious astronomy science geeks hung out working on plotting the stars and the planets and figuring out all kinds of complicated scientific things like exactly where the prime meridian was and how to be able to measure time highly accurately.
We had to do the obligatory photo with standing with one foot on either side of the line, so one foot was in the east and one was in the west. Didn’t really feel any different, but you had to do the picture. They also had some really interesting exhibits about time and measuring time throughout history and in many cultures. An interesting place. We both felt like it was very telling in choosing that place to be basically the center of the universe was very British- centric. It showed how at that time England really did rule the world.
From the top of the hill by the observatory, there were beautiful views of London. And we got a chance to see how large of a city really is.
We walked back down the hill and stopped off at another museum that was part of the Greenwich park: this was the Maritime Museum. We expected to see a bunch of pictures of ships and cannons, but we’re pleasantly surprised at the breath of displays here.
They had a special exhibit focused on women who were volunteer lifeboat rescue workers. We watch this amazing movie that featured the wonderful brave women who do this work. It was fascinating and we have lots of admiration for them. They reminded us a lot of volunteer firefighters or volunteer search and rescue people we have known in the United States.
Then, we wandering away through many interesting exhibits, including one that was really looking at what was behind England spreading out and colonizing all over the world. We found that there was some pretty interesting self-reflection on racism, slavery, and other sorts of ways that prejudice and oppression contributed to the British Empire.
There was also some interesting things about life in the Arctic and the Antarctic. As well as maritime artifacts in the Pacific. This was a fabulous museum and we had a very nice time.
One last visit was the Queen‘s house. This was a special house built by a couple of different queens that now was basically an art gallery. There were a lot of beautiful art, but a lot of it was really focused on British Naval powers. We enjoyed looking and then became tired and we’re ready to leave. This became an increasingly difficult problem. We quickly gathered a number of people who were also trying their best to leave the building. We kept following the little arrows towards way out and asking for assistance from staff, but we came round and round again gathering more people none of whom could figure out how to get out. Finally, after having gone through several rooms several times, we made one last turn that was unmarked and found our way out. It felt a little bit like the Hotel California where you could check in and you couldn’t check out
We went and wondered a bit until we found traditional British pub and had a nice dinner. Our pub eating time was coming to an end.
Then for the main event: the ABBA Experience.
We wandered Greenwich looking for our train station, which was a little complicated, finally found it and hopped on and had a couple of mishaps where we were on the wrong train. Once figured out that we would have to get off, a worker asked us to show that we had paid (which we hadn't). He was very kind, told us what to do, where to get get off and how to pay, and didn't charge us the large fine for riding without a ticket. But eventually, with a little extra time and assistance, we got off the train just across the street from the big ABBA Arena. We were there with plenty of time and ready for the show to start.
We’ve been following this for quite some time. The original four members of the ABBA band, who are now in their 70s, recorded some new songs and were all hooked up to create virtual avatars of them moving using their current bodies. But they appear as their avatar's to be as they were in their 20s. This arena had been built just for this show and it was ready with high level special effects. There was also a live ten piece band with back up singrs on the stage.
The music was great; we were familiar so much. They played classic songs like Dancing Queen, Waterloo, and Mama Mia. There was a section, where people could stand and dance the whole time, which we passed on, feeling that we would be just as happy to sit in chairs. But we certainly sang along. What a fun evening.
It was then pretty easy to catch the subway to get back to our home on the other end of London. We had a full very fun day.
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