London - Summer 2007

Saturday morning we left Vandon around 9, there were 6 of us, and caught the Oxford Express to Oxford, home of Oxford University, Alice in Wonderland and the great hall in Harry Potter 1 and 2. The ride was about an hour and a half, but it was raining most of the way and I fell asleep. I’m getting pretty good at sleeping in an upright position. It never fails that when I have to be outside somewhere, it is always raining. We made it there about 11 and walked from the bus station to the tourist office to see if we could find a walking tour of the city, but theirs were booked and apparently only one company operates out of Oxford, or they just didn’t want to tell us how to find the competition.

My mistake this trip was not doing enough research about the city before visiting. I knew we had to see Christ Church College and there was a castle there, but that was about it. So we ate lunch in an expensive pub and then continued walking until we saw Christ Church, which is one of the many small colleges that make up Oxford University. It also has a lot of gardens and a Cathedral. Across the street was Alice’s Shop, because Lewis Carroll was a dean, I believe, at Christ Church and Alice was the daughter of someone else who worked there that Carroll used to tell stories of Wonderland too. They had all sorts of memorabilia. Then we sat in the garden for a while until the great hall opened, paid and toured the college.

It is more medieval architecture and I would have learned more if we took a tour, but it was beautiful, from the grounds to the ceilings. We saw the entrance hall were the kids in Harry Potter wait to be sorted and the great hall as well. The great hall is also a tribute to Alice because she and other characters are in the stained glass windows along one side. Also, the fireplace log holders have super long necks like in the book.

After we saw the cathedral, the library and the grounds, we left and walked up the high street with all the shopping. It is just like in America where you see the same chains over and over, but they are different here, with a little market every few feet. While the rain let up while we toured the college, it started again as well made our way to the castle. It ended up costing about £8 to get in, and we passed, so we saw the worst example of medieval sword fighting ever out front and went tourist shopping instead. Then we caught an early bus back and made it back to London around 6:30 where I grocery shopped and we all watched another group British movie.

Sunday morning the same six of us left at 7:45 to catch our 8:30 bus to Stratford-upon-Avon. It was a three-hour ride, again in the rain, but this time I did my homework and knew what we were going to see. Plus I read a book that weekend. When we got off the coach we walked to the tourist centre and looked up walking tour times, 2 p.m. So we walked around trying to find a pub that was open on Sundays before noon. After some failed attempts, we found the best pub ever. It had atmosphere, bad 90’s music and cheap food, two meals for £5. And the steak and ale pie I had, with chips, which is way better than french fries, and peas, was amazing. We sat there a while and soaked up the atmosphere to avoid the rain, then explored an outdoor market. I happened to find our meeting place, which was in the middle of the park, and we explored until the tour met. Along the river we saw more swans than I have ever seen before in my life. And I also found out that the Queen owns all swans in England, so hurting one is a federal offence. There were also the cutest baby swans, just like in the book were they follow the goose, they were walking along in a little line and not afraid of the people at all.

The tour took about two hours and we saw most of the Shakespeare houses, where he was born, where he lived later, where is daughter lived and his grave. I also learned a lot about his family, such as he had three kids, but one died at I believe age 11, one he wrote off because of who she married and whose children all died before age 21 and another daughter who never had any children but two husbands. Her name was Suzanne and she was the oldest, inheriting the house after Shakespeare died.

We started in the park, with a look at the fountain put there to commemorate Stafford-Upon-Avon being 800 years old and established as a market town. It had more swans on it. Then we looked at lampposts, because the town found a way to make other countries and cities in England pay for their lampposts and think it is an honour. The coolest one is from Israel and has characters from A Mid-Summer Night's Dream on it. There is also one donated by this power company in Florida. They are spread out all over town and she kept pointing them out to us as we walked along.

The whole town is like a giant antique, with some buildings dating back to Shakespeare’s time and others only made to look that way. But we saw it all, including where he went to school (which is still a school today) and this garden with statues depicting each of his plays that are being created by an American artist in bronze. He makes one per year, and they were so intricate and detailed they were amazing. Holy Trinity church, where he was buried in 1616, though was my favourite part, with full stain glass windows and a beautiful grave yard filled with old trees and headstones.

Weird fact about ancient burials: They were running out of space in the churchyard, so every so often they would dig everyone up who had been buried, pile them together and burn them. They called it recycling and the only reason Shakespeare and his family’s bodies are still there is because he wrote a curse upon his headstone inside the church, on the steps leading up to the alter:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

We also saw the Royal Shakespeare Company and their temporary home until the renovations are finished. At the end of the tour we went in the gift shop of Shakespeare’s birth home, grabbed some sandwiches and went back to catch the bus. It was a long ride back, but Stratford is defiantly at the top of the things I have seen so far.