Day 14

Today may have been the most eventful, adventure-packed day so far, and also one of the funnest. We began the day eating breakfast in the refectory and meeting Professor Wolfe. We picked up Professor Parkhouse on our way to the Baker Street Tube Station and then took the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral. After buying tickets, we entered the Cathedral and were stunned by how massive and beautiful it is compared to pictures we had seen in class. We explored various tombs and memorials on all levels of the cathedral for an hour. Sam, Cheryl and I (Emily) climbed all 1161 steps of spiral staircases to the Golden Gallery level of the cathedral, which is the very top and is 168 metres (551 feet) from the cathedral floor.
After exiting the cathedral we said goodbye to Professor Parkhouse for the day and made our way to the Millennium Bridge. Professor Wolfe explained to us that the bridge has the nickname the "Wibbly Wobbly Bridge" because when the queen attempted to walk across it, she felt it wobbling, deemed it unsafe, and had it closed down until it was built more sturdily. It did not budge at all when we walked across it.





Now on the other side of the Thames River, we headed toward Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Professor Wolfe purchased our tickets for both an afternoon performance and a guided tour of the theatre. While we were waiting for our tour slot, we sat outside together and ate the lunch that we had packed earlier from Regents College. We headed back inside where we browsed the Shakespeare Museum on the way to our tour. The tour guide was very good, and she taught us a lot of interesting facts about the theatre. We learned that the theatre is the only building with a thatched roof in England; the clay that was used for the walls of the structure has cashmere included; it is the 3rd Globe Theatre that was designed since the first two burned down; wooden pegs, not nails, hold the structure together; and the theatre is the shape of a drum to amplify sound since there were no microphones in Elizabethan times.

After the tour, we had about 45 minutes before the afternoon performance, so Professor Wolfe brought us next door to the Tate Modern art museum. We quickly browsed through some of the exhibitions in the museum including paintings, photography, and sculptures, and then began heading back to the Globe Theatre.Professor Wolfe spotted a nearby ice cream truck and offered to treat us to ice cream, which none of us could resist on this hot day. We almost unanimously ordered vanilla soft serve ice cream in chocolate-coated cones,and were surprised when the taste reminded us more of whipped cream than ice cream. Snacking on our ice creams, we continued to the Globe and made our way through the crowd to view the performance All is Well That Ends Well.
We were surprised when the actors and actresses entered the stage prior to the beginning of the performance to greet and interact individually with nearby audience members. Luckily, most of us were standing and leaning on the stage in the front row so we spoke with one of the actresses for a few minutes. The performance was very funny, and the acting was excellent, but we left after 35 minutes to complete the last activity on our itinerary: The London Eye.
We walked the scenic route along the Thames toward the large ferris wheel, passing unique characters and sites along the way including a man playing a guitar completely covered in blue paint, a convincing Michael Jackson look-a-like, and professional sand sculptors who were in the process of creating faces, furniture, and instruments out of sand. When we finally arrived, Professor Wolfe bought us tickets and we jumped in line to wait our turn to board. We were surprised at how quickly the line was moving and when it finally our turn, we found out why; we did not realize the wheel never stopped turning to allow riders to exit and enter; the 25 riders needed to exit and 25 new passengers needed to enter the sphere all while the ferris wheel continues to rotate. When we all entered the sphere-shaped cart, we were impressed by the 360 degree aerial view we had from the top of the ferris wheel, which is over 400 feet in the air.
We spent the entire 30 minute ride snapping pictures of our favorite city buildings, and then met up with Professor Wolfe again to head back to Regents College. We stopped briefly for some photo-ops, and after a tube line cancellation and one transfer, we arrived safely back at Regents College for the night.