Stratford-upon-Avon
09.10.2006 - 09.10.2006
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It's been a little while since I wrote in my blog and I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on. I'll start with Stratford, since that was the least recent of my outings. We left our flats a little late that morning. We paused about halfway there and most of the group decided to get a taxi, but Ryan, Paula, and I decided we'd walk the rest of the way. Needless to say this was a bad idea, or else I wouldn't be writing about it. We ended up running most of the way there. We made it just in time to get our tickets from Armitage; he was about to get on the train without us. We got on the train and everyone was surprised that we made it. Of course it didn't leave for another ten minutes. After that it was a three hour train ride filled with crazy talk.
It was about a ten minute walk from the train station into Stratford. We got some lunch to go (I got mine from an organic health food store... yum!) and ate in a garden with lots of flowers and modern art sorts of statues depicting scenes from Shakespeare's plays.
Then we went to see the house where Shakespeare was born and raised. It was a big house. I wish we were living there instead of in our tiny flats. After that, we went to the courtyard of Anne Hathaway's cottage and Armitage gave us a much needed description of King John, so that we would be able to follow the play that night.
Skaespeare's Birthplace
The Back Door
Shakespeare's Backyard
Then we went to see Shakespeare's grave and got dinner at The Black Swan (aka The Dirty Duck). Adam and I shared this amazing half cooked bread with olive oil and basalmic vinegar drizzled on top. I also had asparagus and this chocolate rasperry tart for dessert. Adam and I also strolled along the Avon somewhere in there. There were a few houseboats and a lot of bridges in the area.
Holy Trinity Church
Shakespeare's Grave
Avon River
When we got to the theatre, we had to turn around and evacuate because the paramedics were coming to help this old woman who had gotten sick. So the play started probably half an hour late. It was an amazing performance. We didn't, however, get to see how it ended. We had to leave the theatre two scenes before the end so that we would be sure to get to the train station in time. We had to walk briskly to keep up with Armitage, but then again, we always do. About halfway to the station we found bubbles coming from the roof of some building. We became very confused and intrigued, until we realized that we were losing Armitage. I decided it was good that we had a guide who was not distracted by bubbles. At the station, Armitage recounted the end of the play to us while we waited for our train to arrive. We had five minutes to change trains at a station about halfway home, and we had to catch some taxis back from Victoria station, since the tube wasn't running when we got in at 1am. It was a very tiring adventure.
Posted by flame1985 08.10.2006 16:00 Archived in England
