London Adventure Pt 3 - Sightseeing

This is probably going to be the longest post about my fabulous adventures, so let's strap in for the long haul!

Monday morning, which was the longest time I was able to be a tourist, was when I walked till I dropped!  I met up with my coworker and started off with breakfast.  I had a delicious chocolate twist thing and lemonade.

The first plan of the day was to head to the Globe Theatre for a tour!  As a lover of the theatre I really wanted to see the inside and hear about the history.  On the way, we walked across Blackfriar bridge, which was so beautiful!  The weather the whole trip was pretty nice.  It was overcast, but it wasn't super cold, and it really didn't rain as much as I was expecting.

A lifesaver - just in case anybody falls in!

The tour of the globe itself was so much fun.  First, there is a little museum where it kind of takes you through the process of the show.  I particularly liked the set ups where it went through the costuming parts.  They had a couple of gorgeous victorian costumes on display as well. There were also people doing a presentation on victorian garb and on the other side of the room they were doing swordplay, so there was a lot to see!

The globe in all its grandeur

Proof I was actually there!

This just amused me

Costuming is an important part of putting on a show

A real working printing press!

After touring the museum portion, a tour guide took us into the actual theatre and told us some of the history. I think the most interesting thing I learned is that I didn't realize there were absolutely no pictures of the theatre, so any of the decorations were completely made up by the people who built the new globe.  Of course they used history as a guide, but it's still pretty crazy to think about someone completely making up what history looked like!  They still do shows there, but the season hadn't started yet so I wasn't able to see one.

The entrance

The stage

The fancy boxes

The tour guide

Right next to the Globe is the Tate Modern art museum, but before heading that direction we took in the beautiful sights of the Thames and having lunch at The Mad Hatter, which I have to say is one of the coolest names of a pub that I've seen.

Now, the Tate Modern is, as you may have guessed, modern art.  So I wanted to share some of the pieces that amused me the most.

How does this make you feel?

This amused me because the caption about the painting expressed how
the painter "started with his brush at the top, brushed until he was out of
paint, and then started again at the top".  Can anyone else say, "well duh!"

The artist self described this as the "anti-painting"
Suuuure dude, whatever lets you sleep at night

If this is art, then the back of my closet is also art

Also mirrory

but was just panes of glass stacked together

Ok, so maybe I'm a tad cynical when it comes to modern art, but it was definitely a fun adventure.  Taking the ramp back to the outside, we walked back across the river on what is known as the Millennium Bridge.

There is much more to come, but this post feels long enough.  To be continued!