Really Old Things

This last weekend, we spent some time seeing some really old things around London. On Saturday, the weather was pretty nice so we took at early evening walk along the South side of the River Thames. We started at the London bridge. The bridge was the first bridge across the Thames built by the Romans in 50 A.D. (Really Old Thing #1). Of course this isn't the same bridge that stands today, but one of the most famous bridges was basically a small community of 300, having it's own chapel, shoppes and homes. It stood for over 600 years into the early 19th century.

We stopped by the Southwark cathedral where Will Shakespeare & Anne Hathaway (his wife, not the star) frequently visited. Will would pray in the cathedral as his brother would ring the bells. Just down the road from the cathedral is the Globe Theatre. The Globe was a theatre built by the Lord Chamberlain's Men and held 3,000 patrons. It was the site of some of Shakespeare's greatest plays - Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello. Every evening, performances are staged in the open air theatre so patrons can experience what play house patrons experienced in the early 1600s. (Really Old Things #2 and #3).

In between the walk from the Southwark cathedral and the Globe, we stopped to have dinner at the Anchor which was the last of the original 22 licensed "inns" in the Bankside district and a tavern has stood there for over 800 years. It's a cozy pub with a maze like interior of various nooks and crannies (Really Old Thing #4)

We ended our night by walking across the Millennium Bridge which leads right up to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a breathtaking scene with the lights of the city reflecting over the river.

On Sunday, we continued our trend and went to the British Museum. There are three main collections are dedicated for the Egyptians, Geeks and Assyrians. We started in Egypt and viewed the Rosetta Stone, Statues of Ramesses II (believed to be the pharaoh during the time of Moses) and many sarcophaguses that dated from 3000 to 1500 B.C. The museum has a plethera of egyptian artifacts. We then moved on to Assyria and into Greece. The British museum is also renowned for it Greek artifacts, particularily remnants of the Parthenon. Of the remaining statues from the Parthenon, the British Museum owns approximately half and displays them lining the walls of multiple rooms (Too many Really Old Things to count). There is an ongoing "discussion" between the British and Greek governments because the Greeks want everything back but the British say they saved them from passing into ruin. One of the best things about this museum is that most artifacts are not roped off or behind protective glass. Everything is out in the open, you can go right up to everything and look as closely and carefully as you wish. You could even touch things if you wanted, but obviously you are not supposed to. We had a great time finishing our weekend of really old things at the Museum!