Stratford-upon-Avon

Monday March 2 Carly and I went to Stratford-upon-Avon because our Shakespeare class was canceled. We took a train early in the morning and arrived in time for lunch. We ate at the White Swan which is the oldest building in Stratford. I guess Shakespeare use to hang out there when it had a different name. I ate fish and chips so I felt very British.

It turns out that the town of Stratford LOVES to exploit old Shakespeare. Traces of him were everywhere from statues to names of buildings, streets, and shops. For example, we stopped in "Much Ado About Toys" for directions.

We went right to the birth house of Shakespeare which was pretty well done. They had more to say about the way of life in the Tudor times than Shakespeare but I learned a lot. For example, beds back then were really short not because the people were necessarily shorter, but because people slept sitting up. It had something to do with avoiding looking dead so they wanted to be sitting up. We also went to "New Place" which is were Shakespeare's retirement house use to stand. An owner in the 1700s got really mad about tourists visiting and the high property taxes he had to pay despite the fact he only lived in the for a few weeks a year. So to teach the town a lesson he knocked the houe down. But you can visit the foundations of it and see the houes his daughter lived in next door.

Of course we went and saw Shakespeare's burial place in the Trinity Church. A very plain stone in the floor makes the spot where he is buried but it was exciting anyways.

We had an a few hours to kill before our train home so we went to Anne Hathaway's Cottage which is a mile or two outside the Stratford. It was the most picturesque and original of the Shakespeare properties. I guess her family were yoeman farmers so they never renovated or modernized their home. It had a lot of oringal furniture and even a bench that Shakespeare "sat on to court Anne".

We still had some time so we ended up back at the White Swan and sat down for English Tea. It was so fun and much cheaper than the tea at the Berkley! Of course much less fancier too...