Globe Theatre, British Museum, Night Tour

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It was forecast to rain early, so instead of leaving my bags until later, I decided to go to The Cumberland early to see if they could hold my bags. After a 15 minute bus ride, I arrived at the Cumberland which is directly across from Marble Arch. Its in the same area that I stayed in during my last trip overseas. Happily I was able to access my room right then and there! This place is all about security. They had a man stationed at the entrance of the elevator that made you check your card before getting on to the elevator. Then you had to use your card to push up or down to call the elevator. Next, once inside the elevator you had to use the card again before pushing the floor your room was one. My room was small but much larger than my previous hotel. I unpacked a little and then headed out to get some breakfast before heading to the Globe Theatre. I decided to use the Hop On-Hop Off bus this time since it was free as part of my London Pass. 10 minutes into the ride, it started to rain lightly. I took out my own rain poncho and stayed out in the open air section of the bus. To keep my phone dry I used a waterproof phone bag I had gotten in the states. It worked very well! The bus trip to the Globe was very long. Traffic has gotten soooooo much worse. But you have to ride on top of the streets if you want to see the city. Can’t see much underground.



Once again due to my London Pass, I had free admission to the Globe Theatre. I got to the Globe Theatre just in time to make the 11 o’clock hour tour. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre which is now a parking lot with only a metal plaque adorning the wall. They have a wonderful historical timeline regarding the theatre and William Shakespeare. We couldn’t see all of it due to the actors warming up for the 2 p.m. performance. They were sold out or I would have stayed to watch. Afterwards, I went just down from the theatre to eat at Pizza Express. I got a Marguerita Pizza (sauce and cheese) on a gluten free crust along with a side of spicy cream sauce covered coleslaw. I had the view of the Thames.



I decided that since my feet were really hurting, I’d save the British Museum (which is free for everyone) for tomorrow and go visit the Museum of London (free with London Pass) instead. However, due to bad directions from a Tube employee, I got directed to the British Museum. Not the greatest time to go and during a rainstorm. It was packed with people. With the rain and the warm bodies it was way to warm to stay inside for long. I quickly walked through part of it. I saw the Rosetta Stone, Egyptians mummies, Roman and Greek archaeological items, as well as visited the North American hall which had numerous Native American items. I then headed back to my hotel to rest and grabbed a McDonalds meal since I was going to be heading out in a few hours for my See London by Night Tour at 9 p.m. It was still raining when I got to the location where we would start the tour. I used my rain poncho and wore my light jacket underneath. There were about 10 others but I was the only one wearing a poncho so I sat toward the back of the covered area. I even gave up my seat to a woman that was from another country who didn’t speak English well. Turned out that she was very rude and kept telling me to get out of the way so that she could take pictures from the dry section of the bus. Here I was in the back of the bus in the rain. After a bit of her, I finally told her if she wanted better pictures, then she could come join me here in the back in the rain. After that she kept quiet. For the most part it was similar to the day tour, but shorter. An hour later we were back at our stop. I took the Tube back to my hotel, and got out of the wet clothes, and went to bed.

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Photos

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Ugh... Mc Donald's again