I left the Saturday my mom and brother left. Mary and I took the train from London to Birmingham, then Birmingham to Stratford Upon Avon. We missed our connecting train so we had an hour to kill in Birmingham. Good thing the station is connected to a MASSIVE mall.
Not only was it a mall... it was a mall with freakin' Top Shop!
Anyways, I was excited...
When we arrived in Stratford Upon Avon it went like this:
Mary: Christina, where is our hotel?
Me: umm, I forgot to call. I thought you had looked?
Mary: Christina!?
Me: My bad...
We had to walk to the tourist center. But it was OK :-) in the meantime we met up with Heather and David. They were fortunate enough to experience the Mil Mar's disgustingly pink decour. It was sooo pink it was nauseating... but yet I freaking loved it.
(don't you love the matching pink towels!?!?)
That was what started 'Mary and Christina's Romantic Weekend'
We had romantic stratford upon avon and a ridiculously adorable bed and breakfast...
Anyways...
We walked to Anne Hathaway's cottage. Even in nasty, rainy weather this area is beautiful. The cottage is perfect. We had a nice tour, although the woman talked a bit too much about bread baking... umm... not that interested... but it was so cool knowing the history there. We sat where Shakespeare apparently courted Anne, haha, when he was 18 and she was 26... he definitely got her pregnant which is why they were married.
Haha, that's the Shakespeare I love. Scandalous :-)
After our tour we walked around the grounds and discovered they had a tree labyrinth. Yes, a labyrinth. And darnit, we definitely went in. At one point we got tired of following the path so we started cutting through the trees... haha, it worked... except Heather got stuck at one point, lol.
Mary made it to the middle first... David right after... Heather and I were close, but were blocked by a puddle. Then we were kicked out. Apparently winter hours are NOT the same as summer...
After that we went in town to have a delicious dinner at the Old Thatch Tavern. I nerdily read Shakespeare's sonnets... haha... look, it felt right finally buying the sonnets while IN Stratford Upon Avon. After that David and Heather left *tear*
Haha, but then Mary and my's adventures began. We found a really cute bar and drank some mulled wine and a glass of red wine. Mulled wine is like heated Sangria with spices; aka... pure, holiday deliciousness.
Then we went and saw Henry V. If you're in England, THIS is the place to see Shakespeare. The actors were phenomenal, the effects were surprising/ really impressive (especially about the time I was falling asleep before getting coffee at intermission and there was an explosion), and part of it was acted by actors suspended in the air. It was like an awesome action movie meets Shakespeare meets Cirque-de-Soleil.
Then after that things got interesting :-)
We went to the Dirty Duck, the pub right near the theatre. There we got an upclose look at all of the actors. Quote of that place: "I'm attracted to talent"
But it was an older demographic so we decided to leave. We came up to a club, but we were not ready for that, but the bouncer told us to go back to the place called "Shakesperience."
I went up to that place's bouncers, went... "Do you have alcohol!?" Yes, they did... specifically a bottle of wine with "Shakesperience" on it. It was hilarious.
There, while taking pictures, a guy came up and offered to take a picture of us. Him and his friends were heading to a club. Haha, the club, Bounce, was rather lame. But just being... at a club... in Stratford Upon Avon... was totally worth it. Finally it was time to leave and we headed back. But of course... we stopped for Kebabs. Really I just wanted chips... but Mary wanted a kebab... I tried to order both... and the order ended up meat and chips.
Haha, gross... yet perfect...
In the meantime Mary had met this really strange local guy. He ended up hitting on her in front of his girlfriend. That's him in the picture below. Sketchy...
The next day we woke up and had the best breakfast of my life. I love the Mil Mar... would highly recommend it. Then we went to every main Shakespeare site. We first visited the Church of the Holy Trinity where he is buried. Then we walked along the Avon river which is lovely.
Next we visited his birthplace then finally ended at Nash's house, which is the house where Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband lived. Since Shakespeare retired in Stratford Upon Avon in 1611 he lived in a house next door. Unfortunately it was torn down by it's next owner who didn't like paying taxes on it; now it's a garden.
Overall this weekend was WONDERFUL. I already loved Shakespeare, but seeing where he lived (plus the adventures of our one night) really made it special.
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