London Day 4

---

Today we disembarked the tube at Temple and headed along Fleet Street towards St Paul's Cathedral, now the legal district in the 12th Century, the headquarters of the Knights Templar.

On the way we stopped in at the Temple Church where nine effigies of the once powerful Templar Knights lay on the floor, the boys weren't so impressed, apparently these are the bad guys in Assassin's Creed. Their downfall ultimately eventuated and the church became the property of Henry VIII.

Our next stop was St Paul's where we were given ipods to guide us through. We could not all help to be impressed by the brillance of the mosaics only cleaned a few years ago, and the amazing collection of souls buried in the crypt. Will was most impressed by the grand tomb belonging to Horatio Nelson.

We also climbed the 259 steps to reach the whispering gallery, where you can look down in to the church and then further on up (119 steps) to the Stone Gallery or outer ledge of the dome to get some magnificent views of London. Unfortunately we couldn't climb up the next 152 steps to the Golden Gallery due to ice.

From here we headed across the Millenium Bridge to Shakespere's Globe Theatre. The theatre was rebuilt as a replica in 1997 after the original burnt to the ground in 1642. Unfortunately they do don't do any performances in the winter, but its definately something one should do. They perform Shakespere just as Shakespere had intended, open air,with an interactive audience heckling, drinking beer and generally having a great time.

---

Photos

Temple Church
Effigies of some of the Knights Templar, the crusading monks in the 12th Century

Temple Church
the Chancel

London skyline looking south

Shakespere's Globe
replica built 1997

The Globe
The decorated boxes are for the wealthy - to be seen and hear the play

The Globe
The floor is for standing room - the groundlings