Site Map for the England 2000 Trip Site
We started Sunday by taking the tube to St. Paul's, then walking across the river to the Globe Theatre. The Globe is a restoration of Shakespeare's Globe, built to resemble in as many ways as possible to resemble the original (based on what evidence we have). There are a few differences; the theatre holds fewer people, for example, due to fire regulations. But overall, its rather authentic. During the summer months, they perform plays there, but during the winter, they don't, since the stage is outdoors. There is also a nice museum attached, providing info about theatre in Shakespeare's time and about the reconstruction of the Globe.
From there, we went to the British Library. They have a phenomenal collection of documents, such as Nelson's orders on the eve of Trafalgar, Magna Charta (two copies), manuscripts from Handel, Mozart, et. al, and so on. They also had a special collection of Bibles and other sacred books on display, many quite beautiful.
Since we were meeting a friend of mine from IBM at 6 in front of the British Museum, we headed back there. We spent some time looking at the Greek and Roman collections as well as at the artifacts of early Britain and the Assyrian mosaics. One collection that was especially impressive was the collection of Greek painted vases. I liked them so much that I picked up the book on them in the museum book store.
We had a nice dinner in Chinatown and ended the evening in a good pub in Trafalgar Square.
Yesterday's Trip - Natural History Museum
Tomorrow's Trip - Portsmouth