London 3/10

We had an interesting day. We caught bus, train and underground to Blackfriares
 Station with the intent to explore the riverside area. Since a short walk brought us to within spitting distance of St Paul's Cathedral we thought we might as well take another look. However when we discovered that as tourists not worshippers we would be paying the equivalent of $30 each for entry we thought we remembered enough from our previous visit.
Instead we walked across  the Millenium footbridge to our intended destination the new version of Shakepear's Globe Theatre. Here we paid slightly less as seniors for the guided tour and it was well worthwhile. Our guide was a bubbly lass originaly from Wales whose illustrious surname was Jones. The Theatre took 27 years of negotiation and fundraising before it was completed in 1997. The instigater was Sam Wanamaker died three years before it was finished but is fondly remembered. There has been great lenghs taken for authenticity including wooden pegs instead of nails, all wooden interior ( for acoustics) and thached roofing over the seating area. All performances of Shakespear's plays are held at 2pm as they would have been at the time of the Bard. Since candlelight was the only option and unsafe this was tradition and necessity. They do hold some mordern performances and have lighting for them. The actors were on stage undertaking strenuous warm up exercises prior to performing Othello in the afternoon so we were not permitted to take photos of the interior which was a shame but did not detract from the experience.
From there we walked along to the Tate Modern Art Gallery and decided to take a quick look. What we found was not what we expected. The first thing that struck us was a muffled rhythmic booming and we just had to investigate. At a lower ground level people were walking (no shoes) or lying on a fabric sort of flooring. As they moved they left some prints which then faded but it also triggered the sounds. It was quite fascinating. From there we tracked down an exhibition that was advertised as "The  Clock". Again uninformed as we were we were bemused when we found ourselves in a darkened theatre watching what seemed to be a movie. As we got into it we realised that is was a compilation of film clips from early movies to modern which all featured the checking of the time as part of the scene. The time progressed as we watched from 1.45pm in progressive small increments. At the conclusion of each scene there would be a word or phrase which linked to the successive scene. We were iintrigued and watched until about 3 pm film time. As we left we read a spiel we hadn't seen before which explained that the film runs for 24hours matching the real time. Just as well we didn't want to see the finish. It took 3 years to make with a team of people searching films for clips. And yes it was 3pm when we left.
By then it was time to walk over another bridge to catch our transport home.
We had a delicious Nepalese meal after a slightly lumpy start. When we tried to cut our Samosas they were very hard. As the pastry fell off I realised that the vegetable interior was solid. Still frozen. The embarrassed waiter whisked them away and we had his undivided attention for the rest of the evening.
And so to bed.