London Days 36 &37: Stratford!

the past few days in Stratford-upon-Avon have been such a blast! the town is so picturesque, and has such a different feel from London. On Wednesday we got up early, had a delicious English breakfast at our bed and breakfast and headed over to Shakespeare's birthplace. before you go in, they play a short movie for you that uses the prologue from Henry V. Talk about chills! It was a beautiful old building, we got to walk through the place Shakespeare grew up, including the room he was born in.

Next we walked over to Nash's house. which is the home right next to the house Shakespeare lived in with his wife and children. Shakespeare's house was burned down a couple hundred years ago, so we spent some time looking at some exhibits of the archaeological dig that was done there, and sitting outside right where the house would have been.

Next we went to Hall's Croft, where Shakespeare's daughter moved to with her husband, and trinity church, where Shakespeare is buried

and back to the royal Shakespeare company for a backstage tour. It was really interesting to get a little more of a backstage look at these awesome theaters, learn more about how they run, and learn the history of the RSC. there was a really cool costume and makeup exhibit, we got to go to the control room for the theater we saw As You Like It in, and we also got to see the other theater in this building. 

We saw Hamlet that night and it was great, I really loved it. I didn't love it quite as much as As You Like It, but it was still really well done. It was done on the same stage, which was really cool, because they had to bring on a completely new set. This play was also done in modern costume, and I really liked the direction they went with it. Lots of the actors were in both this show and As You Like it, which I thought was impressive. overall, I loved their use of lighting, and scenic design. This was definitely not exactly what I was expecting for Hamlet, but I loved it.

On Thursday we left the bed and breakfasts pretty early and got back on the bus to go do some more site seeing that was farther out of town. first, we stopped at Anne Hathaway's cottage, the childhood home of Shakespeare's wife. it was beautiful, as everything seems to be in this country and was surrounded by gardens.

after that we went to Mary Arden Farm, the home of Shakespeare's grandparents. this place was pretty cool because it is a real working farm. so they have people cooking, taking care of animals, gardening but dressed in Tudor period clothing.

Im looking a little crazy there, but Im going to be honest, I was pretty excited to be petting a cow.

Out last stop before heading home was at Blenheim Palace. we had a great time touring around the palace, and walking around the grounds and gardens which were beautiful

from there we headed back home to our flats in London and pretty much crashed. It really was an amazing few days in Stratford. visiting the places Shakespeare went to, and literally walking in his footsteps was such a cool experience. And getting to see some of his work done so well by the RSC made the experience perfect. I have loved Shakespeare ever since taking a Shakespeare class in high school, but my time in London and Stratford, being able to read and see his plays has made me realize just how amazing it is. It makes me excited for a life full of reading his plays, seeing them performed, and hopefully designing for them as well.