LONDON! Day 8: A Lot of Fast Walking...and then eventually dinner

Roz wanted us to see the real London, not just the tourist part. We marched/speed walked down the River Thames bank. Periodically, our guide would stop and point out a place of interest (or she would just stop to make sure that I was still behind her).

Things we saw:

A Busker.

A replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It's smaller than I thought it would be. Also, we couldn't go inside because they were already seating for that night's production of Othello.

A true-to-scale replica of The Golden Hinde. Anyone know why this boat was famous? Anyone? Anyone? Okay, Emily, you tell them why this boat was famous (and tell Griffin I have several more pictures for him!).

A remnant of the Winchester Palace, home of the Bishop of Winchester. This guy, while a religious figure and all, was also a pimp and a gangster. There is a prison around the corner that he would fill with "heretics" and other people who crossed him.

The George, the oldest inn in London. It's said to be 400 years old.

This was where we had dinner. The atmosphere was amazing! The timbers inside were bare and the feel of history was everywhere. Dinner was also very tasty. Roz and the Man had wild boar (tasted like pork chops) and I had venison for the first time (tasted like, well, like meat). For desert, we split profiteroles. This was something I had seen on menus before but had no idea what they were, as an adequate description was never included. Obviously, everyone is born with an innate knowledge of profiteroles, just not Americans. Roz was kind enough to describe them and here's what I learned: they're cream puffs. Yup. And they taste goooooooood! Must have been all that walking that worked up my appetite.

Something else about London on a Friday night...

The people who work in the city will head to a local pub, grab a pint, then stand in the street with their friends and chat until the lines for the Tube go down. Then they return the glasses and head home. It's a fun kind of feeling, like there's a long party going on. This picture was taken on the street outside The George.

We had to make one more stop before heading back for the evening...(this one is for you, Mom!)