Our first full day in the UK was great! With the jet lag gone (almost), we took full advantage and did lots of exploring and traveling!
Our main stop of the day was to Stratford-Upon-Avon, a small town that Shakespeare was from. It took an hour train ride to get there, but it was definitely worth it! We had a super nice tour guide named Tim who took us on a very detailed tour of the whole town!
The first part of the tour that I really enjoyed was a of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church! This is an old, famous church that William Shakespeare was baptized at, went to, and is burried at. The architectire was beautiful, and the tour guide did a really good job of explaining the rich history. I am religous myself, so I can really appricitate the architecture and design that goes into these buildings. Fun fact: William Shakespeare is only buried 3 feet under the ground and it is possible that thieves may have taken parts of his remains back in the day! Another thing I learned is that there are no birth records to confirm his exact birthday. However, there is a record of his baptism on April 26th, and children where usually bapitized within 3 days of birth, so we assume his birthday was April 23rd.
After a bit more walking around, we had some free time to eat and shop. Some of us went to a place called “Food of Love” and it turned out to be really good! I got a ham and cheese panini, and although they could’ve put more meat on it, it was still really good. I also got some rasberry gelato from a shop in the town, and it was super refreshing! I also went into a Tesco Express to find some snacks and i was blown away by all the candy options I have never heard of. I definitely have alot to try before my time here is up. I did notice I could not find any traditoinal protein shakes in there like the ones at home, so that is my only complaint. It could be due to the different food preservative laws here.
Another part of the tour that I really enjoyed was the Shakespeare Centre, which has the house that he was born in! They had a really nice section that included testimonies from people who’ve been impacted by his works from all over the globe which was inspiring to see. It was also really cool seeing all the old furnature, food, and layout of houses back then. It’s so cool that they have trusts and foundations set up to preserve the history of places like this, because everything was so well taken care of, and you could tell all the employees were really interested and knowledgable about Shakespeare. In the yard, there was some performers reinacting some scenes from Shakespeare’s work. They even asked me and a couple others to join in; it was very entertaining!
After the train ride back to Birmingham, everyone stopped to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant. I like Vietnamese food, but I dont get it often in Pittsburgh, so this was a great reminder of how good it is! I got a pho bowl with chicken, beef, and shrimp, and it was great!
Overall, today was a lot of fun! Seeing the ruch history of Shakespeare and how highly repsected he is here was super interesting. I liked his works from high school english, but this makes me want to go back to his plays and see them first-hand! I also enjoyed the great food, as per usual. Tomorrow we are going to BCU, so I’ll keep everyone posted tomorrow!