Today we switched up our activities! We started the day by venturing to Moor Street Station and catching the train to Stratford Upon Avon. This was one of the few times I have used a train as a mode of transportation, and it is nice because you don’t have to worry about traffic like you would if you drove or took a bus. 

After getting off the train, we made a quick pit stop at Caffe Nero before meeting up with our wonderful tour guide Tim. Tim was absolutely amazing! He knew so much about Shakespeare and the town of Stratford Upon Avon. I was impressed by how much he knew. He is probably the best tour guide I have ever had! We started our guided tour at the Gower Memorial Statue of William Shakespeare. Surrounding this statue were four mini statues that represent a theme of Shakespeare’s plays: history, tragedy, comedy, and philosophy. I thought this was an interesting way to honor William Shakespeare. I have never been the biggest fan of Shakespeare and only read his work when I was forced to in English class. Nonetheless, I liked how this statue represented the significance of all his work!

We then went to the canals and they kind of reminded me of the canals we saw on our first day here in Brindley Place. The canals were filled with swans and at one point I saw a group of kayaks that were named after characters from Shakespeare’s plays. I thought the smaller details like this were really neat. I like how this town really does name everything after Shakespeare and his work! I guess they don’t call it Shakespeare’s Town for no reason!

Our next landmark was Holy Trinity Church. This is the church that Shakespeare was baptized in and then later buried in. I think my favorite part of this church was the sanctuary knocker. It was thought to be believed that if you touched this knocker, you would be under church law and not public law. This means if you commit a crime, you have 37 days to find sanctuary. When Tim told us about this legend it made me laugh because nothing like that would be believed today. 

After the church, we briefly viewed the Grammar school Shakespeare attended and then we took a break for lunch. We went to Dirty Duck, the most popular pub in Stratford Upon Avon, for lunch. It was very good and also a nice place to take a break after all the walking we did! We then got some free time to explore on our own and do a little bit of shopping.  

Our final destination of the day was Shakespeare’s Birthplace. My favorite part of Shakespeare’s Birthplace was watching James reenact different scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. It was so impressive how he was able to memorize all those lines, especially with them being in old English! 

We then caught the train back to Birmingham! I’m very excited about the upcoming days we have so stay tuned for those blog posts!