June 12, 2009 The Globe!

Well, yesterday I got to go to The Globe Theater to see Romeo and Juliet. It was an amazing experience! I walked the same streets as ol' Shakey and stood in the same church he attended. I must admit that I teared up as the play started, but I've been doing that several times a day since I got here. It was a beautiful day, too, in spite of the tube strike!

Here's a list of "wows" I've noticed.

1. Heathrow Arrivals Hall - YUCK! OLD! Smoking everywhere!
2. The architecture! Just incredible!
3. Bathrooms - teeeniny!!! There must be a contest for Britain's smallest bathroom.
4. Traffic!!!!! You couldn't pay me to drive in London. It make Dallas traffic look like a drive
through the country. Unbelievable!
5. People walk soooo fast on the streets. I don't know how they do it, but no one runs into
anyone else!
6. English weather is nice. People keep apologizing, but it seems great to me. How can a
Texan not like overcast days in the seventies IN JUNE!
7. Sycamore trees everywhere!
8. No ice! It's not a myth, it's true.
9. So much cigarette smoke on the streets. They recently banned smoking inside buildings, so
maybe in a few years people will begin giving it up because it is so inconvenient.
10. People have been very friendly and talkative. They seem to like Texas and be very curious
about it. Isn't it strange. To others, we live in an exotic place!
11. The British are so quiet. You could have heard a pin drop during Romeo and Juliet. Even
the teenagers were relatively quiet. All it took was a withering glance from an adult and
they settled right down. That's a strong cultural norm!

I'm headed to the British Museum today. I hope everyone is doing great! I miss you all, but I don't want to come home!

Much love,

Sherrie

The outside of The Globe. Notice the ice cream truck. They're everywhere!

The stage is very elaborately painted. It makes up for the absence of props in Elizabethan theater.

These are the "Gentlemen's Stalls." They were very close to the stage and curtained off so that the rest of the audience didn't have to see the men's decidedly ungentleman-like behavior!