Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick Castle

Today we went to Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace, etc) and Warwick Castle. It was a really fun day! Stratford is a really quaint little town with adorable old houses and of course tons to keep nerdy English majors VERY happy! There are just cute little shops everywhere, and many of them have cute names with references to Shakespeare's plays, etc.

We got off the bus and went to see the house where Shakespeare was born (NOTE: We decided not to pay to go into any of the houses, but we felt that pictures of such historic/important places were good enough), took some obligatory English major pictures in front of it and then wandered down a cute little alleyway into this really great tea shop.

Me in front of the house where William Shakespeare was born!

After that we went next door to a cute little café and got tea (Bridget) and coffee (me). Then we went and looked at Bancroft Gardens, the Gower Memorial and the River Avon. After that we headed toward the Royal Shakespeare Company and theatres but were slightly disappointed by all of the construction happening on them – it didn’t make for wonderful photo ops! So then we ventured down Chapel Street where we saw the King Edward VI School (the school Shakespeare attended) and the Guild Church. From there we walked toward the Holy Trinity Church and the site of William Shakespeare’s grave. On the way we saw Hall’s Croft, home of Dr. John Hall (who married Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna).

Bridget in front of Hall's Croft

The church was really pretty (and totally legal to take pictures in this time, I checked!!) and for 50 pence you could go and see Shakespeare’s grave. Of course, especially as English majors, we decided to pay this small price. It was really neat to see the little altar set up there and along with his grave were the graves of his family members.

Holy Trinity Church

William Shakespeare's Grave

After this, we headed back to see Harvard House (where John Harvard, the founder of Harvard University lived for a bit) and stumbled across Nash’s House and the site of Shakespeare’s New Place. The house was owned by Thomas Nash (who married Shakespeare’s granddaughter) and was later the site of New Place, the home bought by Shakespeare and where he died in 1616.

Nash's House and Shakespeare's New Place, where he died in 1616

After walking through Rother Market on the way back to the bus, we boarded and prepared to go see Warwick Castle!

The castle was like a 10-15 minute drive from Stratford. We got there, got our tickets and went in for a few hours of medieval fun! Warwick Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 and is absolutely GORGEOUS!

Warwick Castle!

How pretty! Look at the moon overhead!

First we took some obligatory pictures in the stocks and then headed inside where we “attended” the Royal Weekend Party and saw the Great Hall and State Rooms.

Bridget and I in the stocks!

After that we climbed up the Mound (the oldest part of the castle). Then we decided that it would be fun to climb the stairs up to the Ramparts and Towers…uhhhh….well…lol. It was definitely a challenge, and definitely interesting. In total, there were over 500 stairs in all of the towers and such combined. The stairs were spiraled and REALLY narrow and they were also wet from the recent snowfall in England. However, it was really, really fun, the view from the top was AMAZING and I did not have an asthma attack! It couldn’t get too much better than that! Then it was time to come back down..hahaha. So after (slowly) making our way back down, we headed into the dungeon. The torture devices down there were absolutely mind-blowing and I could not have imagined being kept in there for an hour let alone days or months. After escaping from the dungeon we headed into the Kingmaker’s exhibit, where we heard the “dreams” of a young knight on the evening before he was set to engage in battle. The exhibit was supplemented by wax figures of different events that would be happening in the castle before war. After that we headed back outside the castle walls and went into the Victorian Rose Garden. Despite the fact that the roses were not in bloom, it was absolutely gorgeous. From there we went to the Mill and Engine House where we saw the eel trap (yuck!) and the wheel that provided electricity to the castle. Then we headed toward the Peacock Garden. When we got there I thought the area got it’s name because of the shrubs that had been trimmed to look like peacocks, but I was wrong! There were peacocks just casually walking around this gorgeous garden. It was so just so beautiful and natural, it was amazing!

Shrubs trimmed to look like peacocks!

The real peacock! How pretty!

After that we got on the bus and headed back to Regent’s. Dinner at Ask, a really cute Italian place followed. We decided to get wine with our dinner tonight, something we haven’t done since we got here. I ordered the Zinfandel Rose Spring Falls, this really good blush with just the right hint of raspberry flavor. For an appetizer there was pizza garlic bread with mozzarella and for dinner we had Spaghetti alla Bolognese. For dessert I had (anyone who knows me already knows what I had!!) tiramisu, my ALL-TIME FAVORITE DESSERT EVER! The entire meal was sooooo good, and of course, it was great just sitting and talking with Bridget about everything and nothing and anything in between!

All in all it was a great day, aside from the fact that I am the dreaded “s” word which begins with “si” and ends with “ck!” I am NOT happy about this, although it was bound to happen (EVERYONE else has been sick and we share bathrooms, showers, classrooms, the refectory, etc.) at some point. Tomorrow will be full of homework, homework and more homework, blah! Not an ideal way to end the weekend, but a rather necessary one seeing as I am in school! =)