one man in his time plays many parts
Saturday Mallory and I went to the Tower of London, which I feel like is the history of England in and of itself. Royalty has lived, worshiped and died there. Besides a palace, it has been used as a fortress, prison, mint and zoo among other things, and people still live in and guard the Tower. We took a tour from one of the Yeoman Warders (or ‘Beefeaters’) who lives in the Tower, saw the Crown Jewels (which were absolutely ridiculous and included a 530 carat diamond), and wandered through all the towers, walkways and exhibitions they have within the walls of the Tower. It was a wonderfully interesting place, though it was quite odd seeing the proud majesty and heritage of the Crown Jewels in a building next to the church in which Queen Anne Boleyn was buried after being beheaded on the lawn just outside. The pomp and circumstance of the royal heritages seems in direct opposition to the numerous prison cells and bloody history of other parts of the complex. I guess that’s what makes history so interesting.
After we had spent 3 1/2 hours at the Tower, we got some food and went over to Buckingham Palace so Mal could see it. That night we just hung out in my room, talked to Andrea and watched Tropic Thunder and had some delicious chocolate and popcorn.
Sunday, we went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Obviously it wasn’t Shakespeare’s actual theatre, since that one was torn down in the 1640s, but they rebuilt it in 1997 exactly as it would have been during Shakespeare’s time. The plays don’t start until April 23 (his birthday), but we walked through the exhibition they have inside and got a tour through the theatre. It’s such a beautiful place, and I can’t wait to be able to go back and see a play there; groundling tickets are just 5 pounds, and they’re opening the season this year with Romeo and Juliet, so that should be exciting.
Shakespeare timeline
We hopped back on the tube so Mal could go get pictures of Big Ben/Parliament and Westminster during the daytime, and then went up to Abbey Road. I left some more graffiti on the wall, and we got a picture of her imitating the cover. Mallory had to leave last night to spend the night at the airport because her flight was at 6 a.m. this morning, and I’ve spent the day doing absolutely nothing besides a little laundry and a little reading for class. Tomorrow, Manuel and I are taking the train up to Oxford, which I’m really excited for. It’s supposed to rain though (what else is new), so it might be a bit of a soggy trip.
