We began the day with a delicious hotel breakfast, and then had a brief walk to the train station to board our 1 hour train to Stratford-upon-Avon, which was William Shakespeare’s hometown. When we first arrived, we met our lovely tour guide Tim, who was actually an actor who has performed in many plays. Tim took us walking around Stratford, and one of my favorite stops was Shakespeare’s church, the Holy Trinity Church.
When we got into the church, we saw so many beautiful stained glass windows and we learned that the church was shaped like a cross, with a curved chancel, which could be chalked up to flawed building design, but it is also said to be purposeful. The chancel is curved to the right, which could signify it leading towards Jesus Christ, who is believed to be seated at the right hand of God. We were also able to see the graves of William Shakespeare himself, along with some of his family members. There was a statue of Shakespeare that was paid for by his wife, Anne Hathaway (not to be confused with the actress), so we can assume that was a quite accurate depiction of the way he looked.
After walking through more of Stratford, we broke off for lunch and some free time. A couple of us went to a restaurant called The Food of Love. I got a chicken caesar salad, which was tasty! We decided to explore a bit more, and stumbled upon a gelato place called Bianca Gelato, where I got some passion fruit gelato that was absolutely delicious! There was a cute little street fair going on for the bank holiday, so we headed over there and did some window-shopping. There were a lot of different treats such as crepes, waffles, and ice cream. Lots of crafts were on display, but the ones I thought were the coolest were stained glass keychains and frames. I am glad we got to experience the fair and see how the bank holiday is celebrated in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Once our free time was over, we headed over to the Shakespeare Centre to begin our tour of Shakespeare’s house and birthplace. It was so interesting to see the layout of the houses from way back then. We also learned about William Shakespeare’s father, John, who made gloves for a living. Apparently, these gloves were coated with human feces, urine, and animal brains in order to seal the leather. There were samples of the gloves in many different styles and colors. I found it super interesting that they had archery gloves as well.
Going upstairs in the house, we were able to see the room where Shakespeare was born and where his family slept. I didn’t know that they used to use ropes to hold up the beds. They had to tighten the ropes frequently to prevent themselves from falling through.
Outside in the garden, there were some actors performing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. They first performed a scene from Hamlet, and then the ‘play within a play’ from A Midsommer Night’s Dream. Some of our group even got to participate as actors in these scenes!
After we left the home and birthplace, we headed back to Birmingham, where we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant! I was very excited when I discovered that this restaurant had prawn chips because I tried them while I was in Ireland and loved them! There were mixed opinions on the prawn chips in our group but I personally find them delicious. I also got some chicken dumplings. I was not very good at using the chopsticks, but was eventually able to figure it out.
Tomorrow will be our first day at Birmingham City University (BCU). I’m looking forward to getting a tour of BCU as well as beginning to get started on our course! While exploring the city last night, some of us met a few BCU graduates, and they were so sweet, so I can not wait to get the chance to meet some current students and some staff as well! Stay tuned to hear about our experience at BCU!