Today I rode on a train for the first time. Me and my group walked for about 20 minutes to the station and then took the train to Stratford Upon Avon, the birth place of William Shakespeare. The train ride was nice, I took a short nap and woke up to see fields with tons and tons of sheep in it. Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and his work is still popular today especially in an educational setting. He wrote 37 plays and his most notable works include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. I read Macbeth in high school and parts of other plays such as A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, but am not super familiar with much of Shakespeare’s writing. Tim, our tour guide for Blenheim palace and Oxford was also our tour guide today. Tim actually lived in Stratford upon Avon for two years as he worked a Shakespeare historical job. You can tell he has extensive knowledge on Stratford upon Avon and Shakespeare that he loves sharing about. He can quote many parts of various Shakespeare plays off the top of his head. When he mentioned things about Macbeth I was familiar, but much of what he said was very new to me. Stratford Upon Avon is really beautiful with the canal and many willow trees lining it. There’s a lot of nice greenery all around with grass and various plants and flowers. The town has a lot of people walking around, many with their dogs and we even got to pet some. Tim showed us statues and told us some background information about Shakespeare and his plays. Shakespeare is believed to have been born and died on the same day, April 23. He was born in 1564 and died in 1616. We saw many swans as they are common to the area. There were also ducks and geese in the water. The weather was rainy and a bit windy which persisted on and off throughout the day. To help we quickly went into a Shakespeare theater and got to go up in an elevator to an outlook of the town.

This view was beautiful as you got to see everything including houses, the canal, fields in the distance, and other things. After that we walked and talked along the canal until we got to Holy Trinity Church. This church is where Shakespeare was buried along with his wife and children as well. Tim said it is likely that Shakespeare had someone moved so that he could be buried in the place he wanted. The church has beautiful stained glass windows and statues. The walkway to the church is lined with 12 trees on either side, 12 trees for the 12 disciples and 12 for the tribes in Israel. We walked and talked about various buildings that have a connection to Shakespeare’s life. We went to another church where Shakespeare would’ve gone often as religion was heavily integrated into his schooling. We saw where the new house used to be. The New house is where Shakespeare lived for the remaining years of his life, however it had to be taken down for archeological reasons underneath the home. The new house was quite big and had around 20 rooms. It has now been turned into a garden dedicated to Shakespeare and his legacy. For lunch me and my friends went to a little cafe. I got Stratford tea, which was a black tea, and a BLT sandwich. This tea came in a cute little tea pot and tasted quite nice. However, my friend’s sandwich came out burnt twice, but they didn’t charge her for it. Next we toured the Shakespearean house where he was born. I was surprised with the size of the house. There were many rooms, some were added later on. We learned his father worked with leather to make gloves and other things. He had a workshop in the house that we walked through. We saw Shakespeare’s parents’ bedroom and his own. After seeing the house we went to the gift shop before leaving for the train station. We will be leaving Birmingham tomorrow for London so tonight everything must be packed and ready to go. I’ve really enjoyed my experience in Birmingham, but I am excited for London and what I’ll be able to see and do there.