I’m practicing my Shakespeare. It’s obviously not very good from the title. Anyways, day 2 of Birmingham, our first full day. We ventured to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. There was much to do and see, but I will start from the top.

To begin our eventful day, we all woke up quite early to catch breakfast before our day fully started. I wanted to point out that the rumors are true. Yes, Brits DO indeed have beans with their breakfast. I didn’t have the heart, or sanity, to experience breakfast beans, but I did in fact try their scrambled eggs, which maybe was just the hotel, but they were very crumbly. The rest of their English breakfast was quite normal and delicious.

Moving on to the start of our adventure, the group walked to the train station, which I have a lovely picture of down below. We took this train to Stratford-upon-Avon to experience what was once William Shakespeare’s hometown. We met up with a tour guide, a very kind Englishman, and he showed us the hit spots. We walked through a church, saw a few theaters, and even toured his birthing house and room. We learned that the term “hit the hay” or “hit the sack”, whatever tickles your fancy, comes from not Shakespeare himself, but from Shakespearean times when individuals had to smack their beds to keep them from stiffening up before bed. Quite fascinating.

We then broke for lunch. I tried my first English-made fish and chips and BOY was it good. It’s nothing like what you’d get in America. The first is properly done and tastes exquisite. Although it did come with mushy peas, which could not have tickled my fancy less. I also got an iced Latte, which was decent. I learned at the coffee shop that the English do not say “take out” and prefer “take away”. It’s good to know these little things.

After we broke for lunch, we got back together with our tour guide and took a small tour. At the end of the tour, there was a little play in which two actors, maybe C list at best, performed for us. They did a tragedy and a comedy and genuinely put a smile on my face. A few of our group members were picked to help them perform, as well. We were asked to play a wall and moonshine. How kind. It was funny regardless and they were very nice about it.

After the entire tour, we took the train back to where we were staying and had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. I got a Tofu Pho, and I can confidently say it was Pho sure good. The restaurant was decorated all cute inside and was very colorful. Although I’ve had Pho before, there were other foods that were new to me that I found pretty good. The prawn chips were a favorite of the table.

With all combined, today was an eventful first full day and it was interesting to learn about Shakespeare and where he started his journey as a successful poet.