Keep Your Eye on the Globe!
July 25th, 2015
A beautiful afternoon in Green Park
The Globe Theater
The sun was out and we were happy our last day would have more pleasant weather to fit in everything we could see before leaving London. We began the morning by heading to the Globe Theater. We took a tour and enjoyed the interesting side stories and explanations of the theatre. We learned that the small structure could hold 3,000 people. At the base of the theatre, the pit area would hold all the people who could only afford to pay a penny to stand, crammed together during the performance. Then, there were three stories of seating, which held the wealthy people in their elaborate outfits.
Next, we headed up the Thames River toward Greenwich. On the ferry ride, our driver gave us an mini-tour of the areas we passed and we saw how different areas have gone from being industrial to high-end areas to live. Once we got to Greenwich we made our way to the Royal Observatory to see the time ball drop. It has been used since 1833 to signal ships on the River. Unfortunately, we missed the actual drop by half an hour, and since it only happens once a day, Chuck was disappointed. Chuck was happy to learn another random fact, and that is this is where the term, "keep your eye on the ball" originated. Captains would send a crew member, a young boy, to sync the ships clock with the ball drop so they could navigate the oceans and would tell them to keep their eye on the ball.
Keep your eye on the ball!
We also saw an incredibly long line of people and realized they were all waiting to take selfies with the prime meridian line marker. While we were definitely not willing to wait in this line, we followed the line to a less crowded spot and took our own picture of us standing on different hemispheres. We wandered around Greenwich a bit, grabbing a drink in the market, before grabbing the ferry back to London.
We spent the rest of the day walking around and just taking in London for the last time. We came across the Eid Festival at Trafalgar Square and watched part of a fashion show while eating lunch. We made our way to both Green Park and Hyde Park. Although Hyde Park is definitely more well known, we both truly loved the quiet, peaceful beauty of Green Park, right next to Buckingham Palace! We enjoyed sitting on various benches, walking through the gardens, and watching everyone on the paddle boats on The Serpentine. We ended our day the way we know best, with a beer at another pub.
Enjoying the view of Parliament.
