Shakespeare Walking Tour and Markets

This morning we took a Shakespeare walking tour stopping in Temple, Globe, Southwark and finished at Borough Food Market. We saw various sites where there was at once or currently is a bit of Shakespeare History.

Temple: the heart of legal London. If you ever wondered where the term “Bar Exam” for law school came form it was from Temple. The law in England is different. There is no public law. All private firms practice all laws. There are two kinds of lawyers:

1-   Solicitors: they have law degrees, took bar exam, and work in an office securing cases

2-   Barristers: they also have law degrees, took bar exam, and they get to wear small white wigs in court. You would remain a barrister until you are called to the Queen Council. Then you get a silk robe and a bigger wig.

Law students at Temple where instructed by a lawyer, they were apprentices to them. The Night Templar originated in Temple.

The Middle Temple Hall is not open to the public. The hall is famous for its structure of hammer beans, which make it so that no beams are necessary to convey the weight; there were also many famous individuals who have attended Temple. Robert Louise Stevenson “Jekyle and Hyde” also attended Temple and came up with the title of his book from two of his companion’s lasts name at Temple. Gandhi attended Temple.

The first English play that two students at Temple named Thomas Sakville and Thomas Norton wrote was “Tragic Story of King Gorboduke”. Queen Elizabeth had The Lords Chamberlain's Men perform 12^th Knight for her at Temple. It was a precursor for the indoor Theatre stage.

After or tour at Temple we stopped at a few other Shakespeare spots, including the GLOBE theatre! We will be back to see two Shakespeare plays at the Globe this month and next. We also stopped by Southwark Cathedral, it was an incredible Cathedral but we were not permitted to take pictures unless we bought a pass and I was a cheapskate. I did get some pictures of the outside!

We ended the afternoon at the Borough Market, where we were treated to the most delicious and giant brownies I have ever eaten! They were super rich and big – It took me all day to eat it in small increments; by 10pm I’m happy to report, I managed to eat it. Then we were set loose to do our own thing. It was a good day.

Saturday May 14, 2011

Today we went to the black market on Portobello Road. I am impressed by all these little markets I loved it. I will be coming back before I leave to do some Souvenir shopping. I’m glad we went early because by noon it was so packed I started to get claustrophobic. I wanted to just shove people out of my way.

Hasty and I decided to take the bus home but we got on the wrong bus…twice. The first one dropped us off in front of the grocery store so we decided to pick up some groceries. Then we boarded what we thought was the right bus…it was it was going in the opposite direction. Finally we asked the last bus driver where to go and he kindly instructed us. We got home and I think all the exhaustion of the week finally came over me and I took a nap and stayed in for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we visit the London Tower; we will be attending church in the London Tower.