We started by heading to The Globe to have an official tour. This was great and the rebuilt Elizabethan theatre is quite magnificent. Our guide was a welsh chap who was very informative and entertaining. After the 40 minute guided tour we spent another hour or so walking around the static displays listening to the supplied audio guide.
Next stop was the Courtauld Gallery which took was a 40 minute walk away. A refueling stop was necessary at a pub nearby where we shared a platter and had a couple of drinks. The Courtauld has a number of Italian Renaissance paintings and a few by Gainsborough and Reynolds but we were mostly there to see the Impressionists paintings.
Next (and last stop for the day) was the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. We had been there many years ago and really enjoyed it. This time it seemed to be overrun by small children running around and making lots of noise. I guess this should have been no surprise on a Sunday but the problem was that place had been revamped in recent years. Now it was much more like a theme-park with plenty of things the kids could do to make noise!! After a fairly brief wander around we decided to leave and retire to a pub.
After a couple of drinks we noticed that the Australia/Scotland RWC match was playing. What a bummer that Scotland lost on the last few seconds. We ended up chatting with an English couple who were also disappointed that the aussies won and shared a few more drinks with them. After swapping business cards, we headed back to Southwark on a 176 bus. It's amazing how useful a smartphone and few apps can be in finding your way around a place like this!
We stopped at a Turkish restaurant on the way back to the Hotel and had a great fixed-price meal of 2 meze each followed by a main with a glass of Turkish house wine.