London: Day 2 (afternoon/evening)

OK, so I am determined to get caught up on this blog and stay that way (we'll see). So, back to London. After our morning in the Tower we grabbed some lunch and then checked out some more sites. As we were crossing the Tower Bridge we took the tour. It started on one side of the river, went up 300 some odd steps, checked out the sites from the top and came down on the other side. From there you can go down below the bridge and check out the machinery used to raise the lower (road) level when they need to let bigger ships pass through. It is very impressive and massive machinery!!! From there we strolled up the wharf and crossed back across the Thames on the London Bridge. We checked out The Memorial that was built to remember the great fire of London that destroyed much of the city. From there we strolled a bit, crossed the Thames again and went to see Shakespeare's Globe theater. It is not the original theater, but is an exact replica built not far from where the original stood. The tour was very interesting, as was watching the workers prepare for a performance they were having that evening (which unfortunately was sold out). They wanted the recreation to be as close to the original as possible, so it is held together with 12,000 wooden pegs, has the thatched roof (with sprinklers for safety) and walls made of mud and goat hair. The original floor was made of crushed acorns, but too many people were allergic, so they replaced it with cement. It amazed me to learn that originally it cost only 1 cent to stand in front of the stage, 2 cents to sit in the seating and 3 cents to sit in the box seats (the beautifully painted boxes at the front surrounding the stage). It didn't make sense to me that the most expensive seats had the worst views, but evidently the people who sat there came to be seen, no to see. From there we strolled the wharf some more, then got ready and had a nice dinner out. Very good Italian food and some fabulous tiramisu!!!