A week in London with the Lycee, Days 4 and 5

Shakespeare's Globe Recreated (almost to meet original specifications)

The British Museum

Day 4 :

Our fourth day in London was fun and was a slight bit more relaxed than the other days. We went to the Globe Theatre in the morning, which was a welcome change. As a literary scholar, I very much appreciated being near where the actual Globe was (the one we were in was a replica of the original completed in 1997). The museum was interesting and gave me a new sense of what Shakespearean theatre was like. Having read at least half of Shakespeare's plays, I appreciated looking around and seeing things about Shakespeare's theatre. To top it off, our guide was a really cool guy and had a good sense of humor that helped our group to understand the information and stories being told.

Following our visit to Shakespeare's Globe, we went to Covent Garden. When I thought of this place, I envisioned seeing the chapel in "My Fair Lady" at the beginning of the musical (a play inspired by George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion") And behold, I saw it with my own eyes. It's a really nice place. We had our lunch in this area. Immediately afterwards, one of the London street performers came out and attracted a large crowd. He did tricks that were quite remarkable to see. However, as all other street performers, he basically demanded money from everyone in the square, telling everyone he wasn't paid by the city of London. Interesting but maybe not the most attractive of entertainments.

One of my colleagues and I went to the British Museum a couple hours later. We went to see the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and mummies. For some reason, the Egyptians fascinate the French and me. We were both surrounded by hundreds of French tourists who were there for perhaps the same reasons as we were. It's a wonderful museum. I found a bookmark for my dad that has the museum edifice on it that he will like. The fatigue continued to be heavy on everyone, but soon we were in the bus on our way home.

Day 5 :

The last day was easy and not too bad in the least. My group did their filming for interviews with Londoners for their class project. They talked about the diversity of population in London, a sociological question that they explored with about three different people. Finding a person who would share was difficult, but they managed well.

Lunch and then the 12 hour trip back home. We stopped at a cafeteria on the way home to have a comforting French dinner. Everyone was pleased to have that after only having the choice of pizza, fries, and pasta for four nights in a row. A welcome change again.

We arrived in Mayenne at about 1:00am and everyone was so glad to be home. There really is no place like home, and for me, Mayenne is home.