July 4 - Culture, Shopping, & Food

Ken loves architecture, so St. Paul's Cathedral was high on his list.

Sir Christopher Wren seems to have designed most of the significant structures in London - St. Paul's is just one of them. Because St. Paul's is actively used as a place of worship, there was no photography indoors. 

We climbed up to the Whispering Gallery and tried it out: the curved walls carry the words you whisper along side them all the way around the room. Then we kept climbing and came out above the dome where we were rewarded with a fantastic view. I'd climb those stairs again. Happily.

We had a view of the rebuilt Globe Theatre from St. Paul's, which made it easy to find. This one was on my list. 

I really enjoyed learning about the effort it took to get this theatre built, and the care that went into replicating the original Globe as authentically as possible.

The stage has a painted ceiling representing the heavens.

A view across the theatre.

Our tour guide reminded me of Ricky Gervais, and by that I mean in both in looks and humour. He was awesome, and I really felt like I learned a lot about both Shakespearean theatre as well as life in London at the time. Steven commented that it takes special talent for English teachers to take something that is actually pretty cool and make it boring.

Ken and Jaclyn stayed in the area, went for lunch, and then returned to watch a matinee of Henry V. (A 2pm performance is historically accurate when it comes to Shakespeare.)

The other kids and I went to Trafalgar Square, and then shopping in Covent Garden. Ken and Jaclyn met up with us for Indian food for dinner, which was unfortunately mediocre. I'm not sure if I was unimpressed because we have such good Indian food here in Calgary, or if it was because we'd eaten so well our previous evenings at Strada and The Pembroke (especially the Sticky Toffee Pudding). We tried to get to bed early that night because in the morning we were catching the train to Paris!