London Itinerary: Tuesday, 13 May 2008

10:00a The Globe Theatre opens. It's strange to think that this structure wasn't rebuilt until 1996 by an American. Why an American? You'd think that with Shakespeare being one of England's national treasures they'd have rebuilt his theatre themselves and rebuilt it a lot sooner.


Small world: I watch this BBC comedy called "My Family." The actress who plays the mother in that series is Zoe Wanamaker. Some of you will recognize her as Madame Hooch from the first Harry Potter movie. I was reading up on the history of The Globe Theatre one day, and they say that an American director, Sam Wanamaker, whilst on a trip to London, was so disappointed to see no other sign of the theatre on the South Bank other than a plaque. So, he spearheaded the rebuilding of the theatre. I wondered if there was any relation, and what do you know! Zoe is Sam's daughter. Useless information, but I can't think of The Globe now without thinking of her.

1:00p What a sucker. I'm on the South Bank. I'm so close. I just have to stop by Holywell Music. They're the largest distributor of harps, harp music, and harp accessories in Europe. I'll have been over a week without my instrument, and I have to get a fix somehow. Besides that, they're bound to stock some harps in gold, and I don't get to see those that often. They make you want to curtsy out of respect.


3:00p The Old Operating Theatre. This place was used for medical and surgical demonstrations for centuries. I can't imagine being thrown on a slab and cut open while people watch. I'm the one on the table, I should be able to sell and collect on the tickets. I wonder if it's kosher to have concession at an operating theatre. A resident feels a little munchy while watching brain tumor removal, so he comes back to watch with a slurpie and Cheeto's in hand. It's got to make it more comfortable to be there for hours on end.

So this place has the flair of antiquity and the interest of medicine. I had to put it on my itinerary for that reason.


5:30p I really don't want to go to Dover on Thursday if it's supposed to rain. So, this whole day is designed to swap out with Thursday, if it means avoiding bad weather in Dover. Thus, nothing is permanently scheduled in the evening. I can eat, go to Harrods, walk around Hyde Park, go some place really seedy and teach the discussions (just kidding--I'd be shot), or I can use this evening to go to Soho and get my Union Jack tattoo at Frith Street Tattoo. So, TBA.