Day #45: More London

I started off the day with a hop on/hop off double decker bus tour. Sounds nice, right? Well, maybe I just got the wrong company, but it was merely mediocre. It featured a insert your headphone into the language of your choice for commentary and didn't have the best route. I think we passed the Marble Arch at least six times. Oh well.

Also on the overrated side was the Changing of the Guard. Holy crap, I think every single tourist in London was there. Probably because instead of the usual gloom and rain, the weather was glorious today. Also, this was the first time that my guide book by Rick Steves let me down. He said the best place to view the action was from the fountain in the middle of the square in front of Buckingham palace. After going through the ceremony, I think a better location is near a side road. The actual changing of the guard is a non-event. Outside of the bands performing (a selection of ABBA music and music from Phantom that I recognized from the previous night), all the real fun takes place when they all make their entrance.

So, all in all, the morning was somewhat disappointing. Thankfully, as bad as the morning was, the afternoon more than made up for it. I think it is not secret that I am a tennis fan. And of all the tennis tournaments, Wimbledon is my favorite. I can remember waking up at 5am in the morning in Alaska in order to watch Pete Sampras power his way to victory on Centre Court. Even the summer I was at Boy Scout camp with no access to TV, I would eagerly await the morning newspaper to see how the competition had gone the previous day.

So it was with great delight that I was able to make a visit to Wimbledon. In another let down from my guide book, Rick Steves did not mention a thing about Wimbledon, so I was unsure what to expect when I got there. Much to my delight, not only was there a museum, but they also gave guided tours of the grounds! Our tour included Court #1, the media room, several side courts, and ended in Centre Court. I was in heaven! Of course, I made a trip to the gift shop where I showed remarkable restraint, for the most part. . .

My final stop of the day was at the Globe Theatre. Totally remade almost exactly how it was done when Shakespeare was still play-writing, it now hosts productions of his work. The show I was going to see was Love's Labour's Lost. It is one of his works that is geared for a contemporaneous audience, with numerous turns of phrase I think only a London in the 1590s. Nonetheless, it was extremely witty and the cast did a marvelous job with this comedy, hitting all the right notes. It was a great performance.