June 21, 2010 - Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

We were able to get tickets to "Henry VIII" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Took The Tube to St. Paul's Station and then walked to the Millennium Bridge, a new pedestrian footbridge that crosses the Thames to the Tate Modern, which is next to the Globe Theatre.

It's quite a spectacular walk from St. Paul's to the Thames, and it's only been since the opening of the bridge that there has been an unobstructed view of St. Paul's from across the river to the cathedral.

And it's a busy bridge, too! Foot traffic between the Tate Modern, Globe Theatre and St Paul's, combined with locals going from one side to the other, makes it a bustling place.

Upon reaching the Globe Theatre we picked up our tickets and then headed to "The Yard". That's where the Groundlings (those who watch from the standing room on the ground level in front of the stage) watch the play.


Although one has to stand the entire time, one is literally just feet away from the actors. And the actors are frequently coming down into the crowd in The Yard during the performance... at times we had the actors performing right next to us!

This is a view inside the open air theatre (fortunately it was perfect weather).

At the bottom of the picture you can see some people standing in the yard. I'll have a video of the yard when it was filling up with everyone a bit later when I have time for extensive uploading of videos.

And here we are waiting to enter The Yard.

Notice I have my backpack. When I realized mom was going to places such as Westminster Abbey, Churchill Cabinet and War Rooms, etc., with her binoculars in her purse ("I don't know why my purse is so heavy?") I started taking my backpack with me so that I could fit her purse in the backpack and lighten her load.

Makes quite a difference!

After the outstanding performance we walked back across the Millennium Bridge.

Evening comes late in London, and we had a wonderful view as we approached St. Paul's Cathedral.

The picture simply doesn't do justice to the Robin egg blue sky and the pale pink clouds above the cathedral.

And one walks around the cathedral to get to the Tube stop. From there it's about a 15 minute ride to our hotel.