St. Shakespeare's Park

On Friday, Jon and I visited to St. Paul's Cathedral before seeing Measure for Measure at Shakespeare's Globe. The Cathedral was breathtaking. I wish we'd had a bit more time to spend there; it would have been nice to just sit and take in the beauty of the architecture for a while. You're not allowed to take pictures inside so I can't give you a virtual tour, but if you go to London make sure to visit it!

We climbed the 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery, so named because two people standing on opposite sides of the gallery can hear each other whispering. Jon and I tried it and it didn't work; maybe we didn't find the sweet spot or maybe there was too much ambient noise.

We kept going, up to the Stone Gallery, where we were treated to this view:

We then advanced to the Golden Gallery (528 steps total). As we climbed, the steps grew steeper and the walls grew closer. I would not recommend this experience for anyone who's wary of small spaces. Also, the tail end of the journey to the Golden Gallery turns into quite a traffic jam, as there's very little space to stand on the gallery and everyone stops to take pictures--like these:

The view was worth it, but the wait reminded me why I've never bothered to visit the Statue of Liberty.

We then walked across the Millennium Bridge to get to the Globe.

Tower Bridge (and London Bridge) from the Millennium Bridge)

Measure for Measure is an odd sort of comedy. Most comedies have fewer severed heads and sex crimes. It was a great production. There was a lot of action that took place in the standing room in front of the stage (the "yard") and a bit of cheeky interaction with the audience.It was a pretty sunny day, and at one point a woman in the yard fainted. She ultimately came to and seemed okay; ushers escorted her out in a wheelchair. We were sitting in the upper gallery, and so we had a pretty good view of the stage.

After the play we ate some excellent Italian food and decided to make a quick trip to Hyde Park.

Marble Arch

Jon likes this bird because it has a snazzy haircut.

Kensington Gardens is within the park, but they were closed by the time we got there. We'll have to make another trip back sometime.

Right now we are in Ireland visiting Jon's family. Expect a mega-Ireland post on Monday evening!

xo
Hannah