Patty and I went through security at the Courts of Justice and were given a pamphlet for a self guided tour. The building and the entrance hall are massive!! We looked around the main hall - I still cannot fathom the history behind these buildings - although this one was built in the late 1800s so it is not centuries old - but the English legal system is.
We found a schedule of cases being heard today - only one this morning at 10:30 where the judge was robed - and isn't that why I came? To see robed and wigged judges and barristers! We found courtroom 15 and peeked in through the windows on the door. Only one seat available. The judge was robed but not wigged - what?!?!? But the barrister was wigged!! We looked in for a few minutes then I sat down in the corridor in case Patty wanted to climb over a couple of people for a seat. But she decided against it. We were here in the corridor when a man and a kid - either teenage or early 20s - came out - the kid was crying - the man was saying "he did the best he could." Then a woman came out hugging the kid and crying. What the heck did he do? Or, as Patty pointed out, perhaps he had been a witness who had been through aggressive questioning. The kid walked by us to throw a tissue in the trash - then they all walked back inside. I wonder what was up!!
We walked to a section of the Law Courts where the trials were not open to the public. There were people sitting and standing around desks. There was a young girl with her head covered and a couple of young guys as well as men and women in suits. Patty whispered that she had read that there was a terrorist case coming up in the Law Courts - we wondered it this might be it. We nonchalantly walked down the corridor pretending to look at the art work while checking out the people in the corridor who probably knew what we were up to - as I pretended to be interested in a large stained glass window on the back wall. I left wondering if that young guy was indeed a terrorist.
We finished checking out the corridors - there were no more cases going on. So we headed back to the main hall - looked like there were a couple of tour groups - maybe law students. We headed back outside and decided to walk over to Covent Garden Hotel where we had found a gluten free high tea - we had made reservations for 1:30 and were meeting Jody there.
We passed by St. Clement Danes Church and decided to stop in. This church, originally built by Christopher Wren, was bombed during the Blitz. It was restored and now is known as the church of the Royal Air Force. It was a fascinating little church with all the military connections. We could hear music as we entered and were told that the Royal Symphony Orchestra students were rehearsing for a 1 pm performance - they told us that we were most welcome to stay for it. And I would have except for the tea reservations.
It is amazing all the things you can do in London that are free or cost very little. A lot of the museums are free, there are performances like this at various churches and other sites. You really could spend a good amount of time in London and see an awful lot for only the price of an Oyster card to get you around.
St. Clement Dames Church
Patty and I walked back up to Covent Markets - we found the hotel just before Jody got there. She had found a lovely wool coat for a souvenir!
We were seated beside George Takei and friends - he was Mr. Sulu on Star Trek. We weren't tacky - I didn't take his picture or speak to him - this IS London after all!! Patty thought he was staying at the hotel - they left, and we didn't see them for a while until we saw them pass one of the restaurant windows.
By Alex Lozupone - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45494226
So we relaxed for 2 hours having tea with sandwiches, scones, and some pretty sweet "sweets"!
Jody and I were going to see Merchant of Venice tonight at the Globe Theatre, and I was meeting Helen Jane at 5:30 at the same place as last week - have we really been her for week already! So after tea we headed back to Aldwych to take the bus to St. Paul's for another walk across the Millennium bridge. We stopped at Marks and Spencer as we passed by. I ended up buying a scarf for myself.
We made it to Aldwych and along came the bus. I jumped in, Jody jumped in. Where was Patty? Watching us pull out!! She didn't make it on! What to do? We could get out at the next stop and jump on the next bus which Patty might be on. Or we could go to St. Paul's as planned and wait for her there. We chose the latter - that is what I would expect someone to do if I got left behind - meet up at the destination. I texted her hoping that her phone might work today!
We were sitting on a wall beside St. Paul's when the bus pulled up - I was hoping Patty was on it, and she was. So we set off for Millennium Bridge. We have really been lucky with the weather when we have been out walking. Patty and Jody decided to go the Tate at the end of the bridge - Patty wanted to go up to the observation floor while Jody wanted to see some of the art.
We parted at the end of the bridge, and I headed down toward Hay's Galleria and Caffe Nero. I had forgotten how long a walk it was - or maybe it seemed long because I had been walking most of the day. It felt great to sit down, and Helen got me an Americano coffee again. We were catching up on how the trip was going when Bridie May walked in!! She is Helen's sister and lives in or near Stratford upon Avon. She had tried ringing me last Sunday when we were in Stratford, but my phone had so little power that I thought I should save it in case of an emergency on the way home - Jody's phone was dead and Patty's wasn't working. Bridie happened to be in London today.
Anyway, the first time I had met Helen Jane, Bridie May and their brother David was when their whole family visited Gortdromagh when I was living there in the old house about 1985 or 1986 - their mother Sheila was a sister of Mickey Paul's, who is Johnny Murphy's father. Sheila and her husband John Sullivan had visited as well.
I had seen Helen in Watertown when she came out after Aunt Helen Murphy died. Her daughter Amy was studying at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government at that time - we had had Amy over for a Sunday dinner. But I hadn't seen Bridie May since Gortdromagh!
And then Hamish arrived - he is Bridie's son - he has just started working in London. He wasn't born in 1985!! What a nice surprise to see them all!! We chatted about our families, the sights I had seen - regular things. I felt like I had known them for years.
Bridie Mae and Hamish
Suddenly it was time for me to head to the Globe. I said goodbye to Bridie and Hamish. Helen was meeting John at the Globe so we headed back that way. Helen took me on the same route with a slightly different bend to show me where the original Globe Theatre was located and where Amy used to live. We met Jody and then John at the Globe. Helen thought that Amy might make it to meet us, but there wasn't enough time. We said goodbye and headed inside. Amy had been working late on a case. She did make it in time to have tea with Helen.
We had great seats again tonight at the Globe, and we lucked out because it was another nice night. With the open roof I wondered what it would be like if it was raining - does it ever snow while the theatre is open? That would be something to experience!
I was forced to memorize Portia’s soliloquy from Merchant of Venice when I was in high school. We also memorized Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy. I don’t remember reading the plays - if we did read them, they made no impression on me. The soliloquys meant nothing to me.
I remember hating that memorization. But we also memorized other works including one that I loved - especially the last 4 lines - Walt Whitman’s ….
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Can't you just picture that! It wasn’t until years later that I learned that the poem was about the death of Abraham Lincoln.
I also remember Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline but only the first two lines:
“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight”
I didn’t mind trying to remember these other poems - I actually enjoyed reciting them in my attic bedroom - the words felt good on my tongue and seemed to flow naturally. But Shakespeare seemed foreign ( other than being English obviously!) The words were old fashioned and seemed difficult to say. Looking now at the words Portia spoke, I don’t remember and can’t imagine our Dominican nuns having us memorize the whole stanza/verse/whatever it is called, but I do remember the first 4 lines.
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
Anyway, I had started reading the Merchant of Venice before we left because I had forgotten or, I hate to say it, maybe I never knew the ending. I hadn’t remembered the obvious anti-Semitism. And as I keep saying, nothing brings meaning to Shakespeare - for me anyway - like a performance of his words. I never got to read the ending - I don’t know if that is why the end of the play was so powerful and horrifying! I wasn’t expecting it. And it is so relevant to today’s news which is so anti-immigrant, anti-diversity, so intolerant. It seemed so incongruous - I am struggling to find the appropriate word - to have this play performed here in this city with masses and masses of people from every possible background. The play expressing the open hatred of something different - in this case the Jewish culture - was horrifying. I was appalled. I was scared.
Perhaps I had such a visceral reaction to the play after so recently being sickened at the Holocaust Memorial at the Imperial War Museum by the atrocities committed by Hitler and his thugs. How does such hate develop? Shakespeare wrote over 400 years ago - and the hate still goes on.
So, Jody found a bus on her app to get us back to Vauxhall. We walked back the way I had come with Helen Jane. I was able to point out the sites of the original Globe and Rose theatres - thank you, Helen!
When we got home, we had to yell up to Patty because there is only one key, and no way to leave it in the lock box and get back inside. But she was ready for us.
This morning before we left, I had called that taxi driver who drove us to the War Museum. I had decided that I couldn't face dragging my suitcase, my carry on bag and my computer bag on the Tube to Gatwick. I hadn't spent that much money in the last week so I splurged on a taxi to the airport. My taxi was coming at 8 am tomorrow morning - another taxi was coming to take Patty and Jody to Heathrow. I am heading to Sneem for a couple of days since I am so close - Patty and Jody are heading home.
So it will be a very sad goodbye to London tomorrow!
