Friday, May 28, 2010

this might have been the place that shakespeare might have lived at one time in his life... maybe...

this weekend we took another beautiful train ride to the town of stratford-upon-avon. we stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast called the virginia lodge. it was owned by a man named tim, who was quite possibly the nicest englishman i have met!! this was a unique quality because the longer i stay here the more i realize that the brits must not have been taught manners... there have been several incidents where we have been insulted for being tourists. one man yelled terrible things at us right in front of his 2 year old child because we were standing on the sidewalk. confused? me too. things these severe are rare, it is usually just the common un-courtesy's we encounter like people bumping into you and not saying they're sorry, or blatantly running you over like their lives are so much more important than yours. there have been several times where i have almost gotten left on the platform by myself because people shove in between you, and you get separated from the group, and next thing you know the doors are closing and your not on the train!! you would think that was just something that happens in large cities, but our trip to stratford and the afore mentioned example, proves it is just an english thing.

anyway..... stratford is beautiful. there are thatched roof houses lining stone paved roads. while there we of course saw the big shakespeare attractions like, his 'birthplace' his daughters house, his wives families house, and the church where he was buried. the funny thing is, is at every single place, the tour guides never tell you exactly what happened there, who lived there, and when. its always things like 'we believe that this is the place where shakespeare was born because it is likely that his mother lived there somewhere around the time that he was born' wow. amazing. and all of the houses are filled with artifacts that you would think actually belonged to shakespeare, but no. they tell you 'they are possibly things that people who lived around the time of shakespeare were likely to own'... so to recap, i saw a lot of old stuff that actually didn't have much to do with shakespeare, but were semi-interesting anyway. but this doesn't matter because what i am about to tell you was possibly the best news i have to report so far...

i had a room ALL TO MYSELF! and not just a tiny hole in the wall with a tiny bed. no, an actual full blown room with a queen sized bed, and my own bathroom, and my own tv. it seriously was bliss! i got the much needed sleep to help me get rid of the cold that has been ailing me for the past week or so. in the morning i woke up completely rejuvenated. i opted to not eat a traditional english breakfast like the others (it looked very scary... who eats beans and grilled tomatoes at 8 in the morning??) but had croissants and cereal instead. it was yummy.

the rest of the day we had to ourselves to meander about and explore the place. we ate lunch by the river and made friends with the local ducks. around 4 we all rounded up for the train ride home. i was disappointed we had to leave so soon! as hokey as all of the shakespeare stuff is, this has been my favorite part of this trip so far. this city is beautiful, and i can't wait til i have the chance to go back!

hope you appreciate all of the posts lately...(coughbriannecough) i am trying really hard to find time to post! more to come soooooon

xoxo

em

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