My counting was off....It's Officially Day 24

So it was miserable out. Cold and Rainy. Which was a shame because well the Globe is an outdoor theater. But despite the weather it was AMAZING! I was in heaven. Of course no one there cared as much as I did except for maybe the professor but this was her second tour this week and it seems as though shes seen every show there since they opened. It was so so cool. First we went to the exhibit hall and just looked around at all the neat stuff they had on display. That area is really cool, it has a fake oak tree in the middle and a stage where they do small show stuff sometimes and today there was a guy teaching an actor how to fence. It was really cool. The instructor talked to us and told us what was going on. He was really old and joked about having to pass on his craft before he forgets and it dies. Back in the day boys started learning how to sword fight at a really early age so by the time they were old enough to be main character in a work Shakespeare's they would have been very very good and therefore the actors need to make it seem effortless. And the boys are hypothtical, not like real people who are then characters in the play....I know most his plays are not real. I already had one stupid moment like that today but we'll get to that in a bit.

So yea after the exhibts we walked over to the original site of the Rose Theater. This is the theater considered to be the first our buddy Will would have ever seen and of course the one where all his beginning works were performed. Archaeologists discovered the remains of the theater and the site is now protected....of course theres a very big office building on top of it. There wasn't too much to see but they were able to get an outline of the structure which they had outlined in that like colored tube lighting stuff you would decorate stuff with. The area is just a flooded hole of dirt really. They keep it flooded because what was left of the theater was crumbling once it was exposed to the air. It was really interesting and it was something I wouldn't have gotten to see if I wasn't taking the theater class so that's cool.

But it was very cold...and wet...and we walked to the original site of the Globe, saw the plaque and then went to the new Globe. The Globe that stands now is actually the 3rd. The first burnt down when a canon they were using as a special effect caught the thatched roof on fire. Surprisingly no one died which is crazy since there was probably about 2,000 people in the theater and only 2 exits. So the first Globe stood for I think 15 years. The second was built after the fire but after 30 years was deserted once theater was banned in London. So fast forwarding to 1949 an American actor Sam Wanamaker (I had no idea who he was) came to London and asked to be taken to the Globe. When he realized that all that was in it's place was a plaque he made it his life goal to rebuild a theater in honor of Will and the Globe. He didn't envision a exact replica but I guess scholars said that was the best way to go so that it could be used as a way to study and experiment with the way theatre was performed in the past. So in 1997 the Globe was finished. There's not a single nail in the whole thing. They built it like it was in the past with wooden pegs and a thatched roof which is technically illegal now in London. It's SO cool. I mean it's really like it was back in the day except for a few things to keep it to code and there's night lighting in order for there to be shows at night. A theater now a days couldn't stay open if it only did shows during the day. But there's only lighting to simulate day light. There no fancy stage lighting. I think I can post pictures on here and I have my cord now so you'll see but it looks much different then I expected. The decoration and painting is very gaudy. Things are painted to look like marble and gold. The season doesn't start till the end of April but after seeing it I HAVE to go to a show. Plus they're doing Midsummer's. For 5pounds you can stand on ground level like you would have back in the day....of course then it smelled very bad, the tickets would have been 1 penny and they would have stuffed 1,000 people into an area the size of...i don't know what to compare it to but it isn't very big. I'll probably splurge so I can sit...on a wooden bench.

It was just incredible. And the gift shop was easily the coolest one I have EVER been in. I could have bought everything so I'm going to wait and go back. I would like to go again when it's nice out and I can pay more attention to the theater than how cold and wet I was.

OH! The best part and my stupid moment. So they wouldn't let me on stage or backstage because of insurance reasons which I was very disappointed about but they did let a group of kids on who were doing some educational thing. Well they did McBeth on stage in about 2min. IT was just great. Probably the best version I've seen. The kids were adorable. A little boy played Lady McB....he's gonna be a big star. But yea I turned and said it was the best version of Hamlet I had seen jokingly only for it to click later that I said Hamlet and not McBeth...I felt pretty dumb. But yea, we got a free show...how cool. Oh! And they had the 3 witches and all I could think of was acting class in high school when Nicole, Steph and I did that speech for our monologue....still loved how we managed to do a monologue with 3 people.

So after the professor took us to a pub but I didn't stay because I had class. That was miserable....the rain got worse and I got really wet. I ate at KFC because well why not. They don't have mashed potatoes here....just french fries but they did have coleslaw but not as good as in America. After I went to the Post Office and the lady kept calling me Love. At home that would tick me off but I dunno maybe it has something to do with the accent but she came off very nice to me. So yea then it was over to class which was about externalities which wasn't as bad as supply and demand. The economics part of the class is over and we have next week off in order to work on one of 2 papers for the entire semester.

When I got back to Wigram my package from Mom got here!! It was great!! I've got so much I want to eat now it's hard to decide. I'm still trucking through all the Shepard's Pie though....I did eat it with ketchup though just because I could because she sent Heinz from Pittsburgh and I mean it doesn't get much better than that. I also go Oreos, Veggie Wheat Thins, Candy Bars, Metal Forks Knives and Spoons!!!, American Cereal, Pineapple Salsa, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Hot Chocolate, OMG BACON!!...Like american bacon not the weird stuff they have here....Bacon cheeseburgers are in order for as soon as the S. Pie is done. Also got good ol Fajita Dust, Hamburger Helper, Lindt Truffles, Jelly Bellies and M&Ms and Wash Clothes...I'm forgetting a couple things but it's been a very exciting day.

So now it's the weekend and I get to sleep in tomorrow and not worry about anything. It's going to be great. I love London. I'm really on like food overload right now, it's time for dessert and I have no idea what to eat. It's still early though...I'm sure there's time for 2 desserts and it's the last day of the month for internet usage so I might try and download a movie since I don't think I've used even close to all my bandwidth.

Alright, if anything exciting happens tonight I'll post again.

Okay so here's the inside of the Globe. This picture isn't as big as the actual picture but I don't really know how to work this uploader yet. But yea you can kinda see how the stage is decorated. And the ground there in front is where you would stand to see a show. My professor said you can like lean on the stage and use it to put your drink on and that the actors will interact with you and bring you into the show kinda. There's two levels...well 4 levels to the stage. You have below, the actual stage, the balcony and the heavens. But the balcony you see
there is where the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet would take place.


So this is the remains of the Rose. You can see the circle thats like the outer wall and then the line in
the middle kinda is the stage.








The heavens! If there were gods in a show or something of the sort they would be dropped down through a trap door where you can see that like puff of cloud is.