We were so tired the night before that we had slept in until almost 10am so we started the morning with a quick coffee / pastry at Starbucks before heading to the tube from Gloucester Road to Holborn and the British Museum.
We decided to splurge on the guided tour at the museum and lucked out with a very small group and an extremely knowledgeable guide. She took us first to see the Rosetta Stone (wow, so cool!) and then to see the Assyria- Lion Hunt panels.
From there she took us into my favorite part the Parthenon sculptures.
We followed her around for about 90 minutes after which Chris and I wandered through a bit more of the museum.
After we'd had our fill of the museum we decided to head over to the Museum Tavern for lunch and of course a pint.
Once we'd refueled we hopped back on the tube at Holborn and took it to Bank. From there we wound our way through the city streets to The Monument. We probably would have gone up in it had it not cost about $12 each! Instead we just stood at the bottom reading the signs and looking up.
From there we went towards the Thames and followed the riverside path to the Tower of London. After purchasing our tickets and entering we stood around with a huge group of tourists waiting for the Beefeater tour to begin. Our guide was a hoot and showed us all the important aspects of the site and what we should see when we left him. And, while we were standing listening to him we caught a glimpse of the Tower of London Ravens.
After our tour was over we explored Henry VIII - Dressed to Kill, the Bloody Tower, and saw the Crown Jewels (these were quite impressive!). And of course we goofed around a bit!
We ran out of time at the Tower of London and they kept announcing that we needed to leave so from there we walked up the hill to the Tower Hill tube station and took it to the Mansion House (no relation) station. That put us on the north side of the Millennium Bridge from our next destination, and while I was a bit leery that Voldemort would show up we decided to walk across to the other side. Quite the view!
We grabbed a quick dinner (and pint!) at the Founders Arms before rushing over to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see As You Like It. It looks just like I imagined it would and reminded me of many scenes in Shakespeare in Love.
We had purchased Groundling tickets which meant we had to stand the entire play, but it also meant that we were right in the thick of the action and often the actors would be standing next to us or rushing by us! After the long day we'd had we both were barely able to stand until the first intermission at which time we decided that we'd had the experience and we could head back towards our hotel. We crossed back over the Millenium Bridge (in the dark, but again no Voldemort!!) and took the tube from Mansion House back to Gloucester Road. However, before getting on the tube we stopped to gaze in awe at St. Paul's Cathedral.
We stopped in for a quick pint at the Hereford Arms and then headed back to the Marriott for another snoozefest!
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