Travel Journal: London Day 4

Sunday, January 03, 2016

December 26, 2015

Today was Boxing Day, which is a holiday celebrated in England.  FYI, it has nothing to do with the sport boxing!! Traditionally servants would get the day off and receive a Christmas box, or Christmas present, from their master. Many museums in London were also closed today, but the shops were open! 

This is my outfit of the day. I am wearing a sweater from J. Crew, jeans from Macy's, and ankle boots from Forever 21. We ate breakfast at the Pret a Manger... Big Surprise!! Then we took the Tube to the closest stop to Shakespeare's Globe.

We walked the rest of the way and saw this cool building that's shaped very oddly. We weren't exactly sure how to get to the Globe, so we had to use Siri a few times. I'm pretty sure she took us the back way, because we ended up walking in alleys and parking lots...but eventually we made it!

We bought tickets to get a tour of Shakespeare's Globe, which was a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre was a famous playhouse, during the Elizabethan era, where Shakespeare's company performed many plays.

Shakespeare's Globe is putting productions on today. We did not get to see a play performed in this theater, because there were none showing whilst we were in London. Back in the Elizabethan era, only men would participate in the plays, so often men had to act out women characters. Our tour guide told us that they have experimented with only male actors for some of their plays, but they decided to stick with female and male actors. 

3,000 people can fit in this theater. Some people stand on the ground in front of the stage, while others sit around the stage in the seats. The groundlings, the people who stood on the floor, paid a tiny amount to see the show back in the Elizabethan days. There was no covering over their heads. People sitting in seats had to pay more money to see a play, but they of course had a covering over their heads and were probably more comfortable. 

 There are two trap doors on stage. There is one on center stage right in the middle of the floor. The other is from the ceiling. The tour was very interesting, and there was also an exhibit about the Globe in an adjacent building that we looked at.


After the Globe, we planned on walking to the shopping district again. We passed by St. Paul's Cathedral and found this Japanese sushi restaurant called Yo! Shushi. It was really cool, because they had a conveyor belt that wrapped around the whole restaurant along the tables. People ate at a high top counter along the conveyor belt, which moved food in little bowls of different colors. Each bowl color had a different price, and once you finished eating, they count up your bowls and the prices. People just take off the food that they like and eat! You could also order Sumo bowls, which were large bowls of a food of your choice. Then for your drink, they had water and fizzy water spigots, or faucets. I wouldn't say this was the most sanitary restaurant (many of the bowls didn't actually have coverings and would keep circling the belt if no one wanted them), however the food was delicious and the idea was very Japanese. 

We went shopping at H&M and Topshop, and we bought a few things. Then we walked to Leicester Square, which is in the theater district. We were hoping to find a theater that was showing the Mockingjay Part 2, because we never watched it back at home, but the only movie showing was the new Star Wars movie. This is a picture of a little carnival in Leicester Square.

The carnival had a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round. We then walked through Soho and Chinatown, before ending up in the shopping district. We were tired by this point, so we took a cab back to the hotel and rested for a bit. After our rest, we walked around our hotel, looking for a place to eat, and we found a nice pub restaurant called The Albert. I wasn't too hungry, so I had a pesto orzo salad. Then we walked back to the hotel and went to bed. Museums were open tomorrow, so we had a lot of sight-seeing to do in the morning!

Thanks for reading!


Disclaimer: All photos, opinions and thoughts are my own :)








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