Photo 1: The New Old Globe Theatre under construction. |
Monday we hopped on the bus west
towards Waterloo station and got off in Southwark because I wanted to go to the London
Design Museum. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 11:00am and we didn't want to wait
around for it. So we took the bus to just south of the Tower Bridge where we walked
several blocks to see the New Old Globe Theatre which they are reconstructing using the
old plaster, half-timber, and thatching techniques used on the original. They wanted
something like 8 or 9 £ to get into their temporary museum and have a look at the
construction. We decided that it wasn't worth it and viewed the construction from across
the road (which also happened to be the bank of the Thames River.) The sight of the construction of the round, half-timbered, thatched
roof, Old Globe Theatre was significantly ruined by the modern construction cranes being
used by the contemporary, union craftsmen! On the river we observed what looked like
permanently anchored barges which appeared to contain scrap metal and other recyclable
materials. The barges even had little office huts with telephones! Across the river we
could see the large, imposing form of St. Paul's Cathedral, with its own construction
cranes in attendance. We crossed over the Southwark bridge on foot and proceeded to St.
Paul's. |