Sunday, May 25

This morning we braved the Tube for the first time and made our way across town to the John Wesley house and chapel, where we attended morning services. It was a very eclectic service with the baptism of children from Africa and Malaysia, music by the Ghana Fellowship and a sermon by a Korean pastor. Across the street was a wonderful old cemetery where Wesley’s mother Susannah, Daniel Defoe, William Blake and several other familiar people were buried. The house is interesting too, with several items from John Wesley’s day including an electric shock machine which he used to treat depression!

Then we walked south to the Thames River and crossed the London Bridge, which is just an ordinary bridge since they moved the famous one to America. On the south bank we walked past a model of the Golden Hinde, Sir Francis Drake’s ship, and the Clink Prison (now we know where we got the expression to "throw someone in the clink!"). Came to the Globe Theatre, a fascinating replica of the 1600's theatre where Shakespeare’s plays were presented. His plays are still presented there and we were going to see Antony and Cleopatra but the afternoon performance was cancelled - apparently Antony was ill. Instead we investigated a very well-done exhibit of what the area, the conditions, the theatre, the costumes, etc. were like, and then took a tour of the theatre itself. It’s an open-air theatre with wooden benches on several levels and a large yard where "groundlings" could stand and watch the play for a penny (still have groundlings but now it costs them 5 pounds!)

Walked back across the Thames on the new Millenium pedestrian bridge to the area around St. Paul’s cathedral and ate fish and chips in a pub called the Centre Page which apparently has been in operation on the site with various names since 1663 - one of the City of London’s "oldest Dickensian pubs." Then we made our way back to the hotel on the tube.