London, Pt. 3 (St. Paul's to Jack the Ripper)

Hey guys,

Back again with another installment about my times in London here on vacation. This post will be largely about what I did today (Wednesday). Here goes...

Waking up at about 7:20 and planning to head to the Underground at about 8:30 was not a good idea. The Underground (which I believe the folks here call "The Tube") is a system of subways that we've been using to get just about everywhere. Yes, we've used the double decker buses to get around, but only once. The Tube has proved significantly less confusing and infinitely more efficient.

Anyway... The fact that it was "rush hour" on the Tube coupled with a derailment (don't worry, I wasn't in any danger, just a minor thing really) on the Picadilly line caused chaos when we were riding this morning. We were crammed into the car like sardines. When learning about the derailment (after having already planned to take the Picadilly line to our destination) we filed out of one crammed car and into another. Quite uncomfortable.

But, we got to our first stop, which was St. Paul's Cathedral, without too major of a setback.

St. Paul's Cathedral. There is nothing I can say to describe the sheer awesomness of the place. Such beauty, so vast... It defies words. I think you'd have to be in the place to understand. The high painted ceilings, the masterful architecture... Just stunning. Oh, to top it all off, I stood at the grave of William Blake, whose paintings you'll know if you've ever seen the film (or perhaps read the book) "Red Dragon". The dragon tattoo that the killer had on his back was taken from one of Blake's paintings. Witnessing the whole cathedral, walking amongst the crypts... An experience, to say the least.

The next stop on our Wednesday's journeys was Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This isn't (of course) the actual Globe played in by the companies good William wrote his plays for, but a replica. The fellow who had it rebuilt (I'm at a loss for his name at the moment) visited some years ago and was disappointed to find only a plaque on the side of a bar to commemorate the theater. He had it rebuilt near the old Globe (about 200 yards up the Thames River) and accepted monetary gifts from John Cleese, Laurence Olivier, and a host of others to have it reconstructed. The names of the gift givers are honored on stones placed around walkways of the new Globe.

The new Globe's roof is open, much like the old one, and even has the "groundling" section that the old one had with the most inexpensive tickets. Being in that section, with the play season running from April to October, if it rained, you'd be rained on. Quite authentic to what it was back in the day and impressive, as well.

Next came lunch at an English pub dating back to 1676 called "The Anchor". I was quite excited to have eaten there. I did my duty and had the fish and chips (which despite my not being a person who regularly eats fish, was quite tasty) and washed it down with a J.W. Lees Brewers Dark, which tasted very similar to Guiness.

Next, the Clink Prison Museum is a museum named for a prison which gave all others its name. A short tour, but some really interesting stuff in there.

The Old Operating Theater was exactly that. It had old forms of medicine in one room and then an old operating theater where long ago medical scholars could view patients having various surgical procedures performed on them.

Next came the London Bridge Experience, with some very entertaining actors as guides. The whole attraction was rather like what you'd visit on Halloween in the States, the whole haunted house (like Rich's Farms, Moundsville Penitentiary, etc., if you're from my region of the States) atmosphere. It had a rather informative, spookily presented history of London for the first half and then the more haunted house like attraction at the end (complete with evil jesters and zombies jumping out at you, strobe lights, and yes, even a ghoul wielding a chainsaw). Good fun.

Next stop was The Tower of London, used to imprison and execute criminals centuries ago in London. A lot of interesting history there and the Crown Jewels are kept there, as well. Again, the architecture was amazing (as with most of the structures here in this fascinating city).

Our quick, economy dinner today was Burger King. Unlike the junk food/fast food I've commented on in past entries, a Whopper tastes exactly the same here as it does in the States.

Capping off the day was perhaps the most enjoyable, informative, and most interesting part. The Jack the Ripper Walking Tour. A very pleasant, very intelligent guide led us through Whitechapel, showing us where the prostitutes who fell victim to ol' Jack were killed, giving us insights as to who the killer could have been, and showing us the places both frequented. Being in Whitechapel, passing around photos and listening to an expert comment on those things was eerie, amazing, and made me want to become a "Ripperologist" myself. I may do just that when I return home.

And that, my friends, was Wednesday. Lots of amazing sights, lots of learning (which is NEVER bad), and lots of great experiences.

Hopefully, you've enjoyed these entries thus far. If nothing else, I've now got a chronicle of the things I've done here. If you have questions, want to comment, or just feel like saying "hi", please comment here or on Facebook or Twitter.

Again, as with every night after the blog post, I'm off to wind down. I hope this post finds you all well.

Peace...