Living in Utah...Dreaming of the World: Stratford-on-Avon: day 2

I suppose I'll start with a summary of yesterday's happenings, since I didn't say much of them on yesterday's post!

We left London on a travel bus at about 7am - far earlier an hour than I've seen in a while, I might note - and started our journey to Stratford-on-Avon. We had a couple of stops on the way there: first, Coventry Cathedral. This cathedral was bombed during WWII, so all that remains is the ruins. Next to the ruins is a beautiful new cathedral. We were able to see part of the ruins, as well as the new building. I guess this spot has turned into a sort of monument for peace, because it was bombed during the war.

After that, we got back on the bus for a short ride to Kenilworth castle, which was really cool! It's certainly not in pristine shape...in fact, it's ruins. But wow, are the ruins impressive! Parts of the castle date back to the 1100's, although it didn't reach its peak until the 1400s, if I remember right. It had an enormous outer defense, including the largest man-made lake of its time and an impressive wall and keep. Inside were the remains of an impressive kitchen complex, state apartments grand enough for the Queen (in fact, a Queen of England did visit them, how ever many centuries ago), a great hall, servant's apartments, et al. It was really neat! It was really like a big park, with grass and flowers growing up amongst the ruins of a medieval castle. We climbed around and explored for about an hour and a half, before boarding the bus to complete the drive to Stratford.

Once in Stratford, we began visiting all the famous Shakespeare houses. Yesterday, we saw Mary Arden's farm and the Anne Shakespeare house. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mom, and now, her farm has been restored and currently functions as a working Tudor farm. So, there's people dressed in Tudor costumes everywhere, and they work around the visitors milking cows, tending vegetables, etc. They even have a working falconry! We saw them fly a few of their birds, and I stayed back to talk with the falconer, who told me and the few others who stayed back about what the birds can do. They actually do take them hunting - awesome! Anne Shakespeare was Shakespeare's wife, and her house is the house where Shakespeare wooed her.

Today we saw Shakespeare's birthplace, Nash's house, New Place, and Shakespeare's grave in Holy Trinity Church. Respectively, the place where Shakespeare was born and raised, the house of Shakespeare's eldest daughter and her husband, Dr John Nash, the house where Shakespeare retired to after finishing his career in London (although he did continue to write plays), and (no way!) the place where he's buried.

All of the Shakespeare houses are cool, but you know what's funny? It's all such a hoax... Nearly everything is prefaced by "may have been" "could have been" "likely was" "almost surely was" or something of the sort. We all kept laughing about it as we walked through the houses. "Hey guys, Shakespeare may have pricked his finger on this very rosebush!" "You know what? I bet Shakespeare touched this rock! With his pinky finger!" Seriously, that's almost what it felt like. We had guides telling us all the time things like "legend has it that this is the very bench that Shakespeare sat on when he proposed to Anne". It's all rather comical, actually. But in all fairness, I did learn a little about his life that I didn't know, and the old houses really were pretty. And, we did see the original First Folio, which contains all of his plays, and was published just a few years after his death (if I remember right).

Yesterday night we saw Romeo and Juliet performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was fabulous! The costume and lighting designs were very unique (it wasn't done traditionally, I'll tell you that!) and the acting was spot-on for almost the whole time. I was particularly impressed by the grasp that the actors had on the language. I honestly forgot that they were speaking Shakespeare, because it was so natural to them. It was one of the top performances I've ever seen - movies included - in that respect. Absolutely marvelous.

Tonight we saw Antony and Cleopatra performed by the same company. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as impressive...but it was still well done! I think part of it is just that it isn't quite as accessible a text as R&J.

Well, I'm absolutely exhausted! Tomorrow is another big day: we're leaving Stratford and touring Oxford for the day. Then tomorrow night, it's back in London!

Oh, PS, we're staying at Bed and Breakfasts while we're here in Stratford. I've never stayed at one before, and it's so fun! :) I say bed and breakfastS because it takes so many of them to accommodate all 45-ish of us. The one I'm in is entirely filled with students from our group.