Today was our opportunity to be full-on tourists. We spent the day in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. My immediate thoughts were of St. Augustine, a city that similarly lacks tall buildings and hosts many repurposed historical buildings.
Our day started with a 45-minute train ride from Birmingham to Stratford. It is interesting to see all the quaint towns and countryside that begin immediately outside the cities. It does also make me wish we still had all the old train stations that connected the small towns of Pennsylvania.
Our initial free time in Stratford proved to be a very fruitful experience. My first stop was in a sweets shop where the owners immediately recognized that we were Americans and proceeded to ask us about the Steelers. The owners also shared that they had quite an admiration for the Amish and had watched all 5 seasons of a Discovery program about them. For the next hour or so we just walked about Stratford seeing all the cool buildings and shops. I did enjoy a nice French Onion Soup for Lunch at a French Cafe. Before we started our tour I was able to watch a boat using the lock system at Stratford which was very cool to watch, having only ever heard of how the lock mechanism worked. While watching that I also saw many fowl from geese to swans – which happens to be a symbol of Stratford.
The guided tour of Stratford was even more informative and showed us many of the important Shakespearean landmarks around the area. One of the first major landmarks on our tour was the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is currently buried inside. The church itself was very beautiful and was secluded by many trees and bushes. There were many other landmarks that we visited as well, including another church that served as a guild chapel. Something interesting about both churches is that they originated as Catholic churches and eventually became Anglican during the reformation. Another interesting similarity between the churches is that both of them had all murals, pictures, or depictions of Jesus or other Biblical Figures destroyed during the reformation.
Following our tour, we were able to explore Shakespeare’s birthplace and explore more of the town. It was very interesting to see how some of the rooms might have been set up during the times that the home was occupied by Shakespeare’s family. There was a nice garden with some chairs and benches outside of the building where we got to enjoy some time off our feet in the sun. We did then also take the opportunity to stop at a tea shop and I got a wide variety of teas to bring back to the US to share with my family and naturally enjoy myself.
Our night ended with dinner at a nice restaurant called Edward Moon. I enjoyed some chicken liver and a very strong ginger ale. After our delicious meal, we once again boarded the train and got to see more of the English countryside with a beautiful sunset in the background.