A Week Out

 This past week has gone by in a whirlwind; amidst the chaos of induction ceremonies and orientation I have also been making a few day trips to London. I have been to the theatre in London twice over the past week, once to the Globe to see Dr. Faustus and once to St. Martin's theatre to see The Mousetrap (for the second time). I had never read Dr. Faustus but had always been intrigued by the idea of seeing a play by the man considered to be Shakespeare's chief rival Christopher Marlowe, until his premature death in a bar fight, so I endeavored to make another visit to the Globe. This time I watched as a groundling which meant that I got in for a meager 5GBP but that I had to stand for the entire 3 hour performance. I ended up arriving early so I got a spot literally right on the stage; I was so close that I could have touched the actors legs as they walked past me!

leaning against the stage

my view of the stage (not zoomed in)

The play was, as always with London theatre, of immaculate quality. Dr. Faustus was a fantastically dark character battling against whether to be good or evil and ultimately sells his soul to the devil for 24 years of wealth and power. The actor portraying Mephistopheles, Lucifer's right hand man, was particularly poignant in his bone chilling performance. In short, I left the play much more satisfied and enlightened than when I came. 

A few days later I returned for a very different sort of play, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap near Covent Garden. This is the longest running play in theatrical history and I decided that in honor of Christie week I would see the play once again. I arrived in London early and since it was such a nice day out I decided to wander a bit. I went to Borough market in Southwark and wandered amongst all of the beautiful displays of french pastries, giant cheese and olive barrels, pallets of fresh fruit and veg, and enticing stands selling falafel and Turkish gyros. It is a foodies' paradise and I always love having a nice go around in there. 

Macarons at Laduree

After wandering through all of the pleasant aromas I was hungry so I set off to have lunch at a French cafe chain, Cafe Rouge off of Leicester Square. I enjoyed a thoroughly French meal and afterwards went to Harrods where I bought myself a treat of a few macarons from the Laduree shop. 

Cafe Rouge

     After spending a nice morning and afternoon in London I walked over to the theatre for the play. 

I had forgotten the ending to the murder mystery whodunnit and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it. Afterwards I headed back to Waterloo station and hopped on the 7:20pm train to Reading alighting at Egham at 8pm. By the time I arrived home it was 8:30pm and I was tired, yet reinvigorated from my day out to the city.