Home of the Bard

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Since arriving in England, Adam and I have not ventured far from our home base of Leeds, having temporarily exhausted our travel itch with our European jaunts to date. So Adam’s suggestion of a weekend away to visit the home of the bard was a pleasant surprise to me. When he also casually mentioned he had concert tickets for a show in Birmingham on our Friday transit night, I eagerly agreed. Friday night several weeks later, I found myself in a concert hall with hundreds of black clad men and women, both sexes sporting scary makeup, watching a tired rocker shake his middle aged booty. It was one of those moments when all I could do was marvel at my surroundings and repeatedly ask myself… how on earth did I ever find myself at an Ozzy Osbourne concert??? Adam needless to say loved the whole thing from beginning to end (which led me to seriously question my husband’s taste in music). Nonetheless, it was definitely an experience!
Our next stop was Warwick where we visited the historic Warwick castle. It was our first visit to a castle, English or European, and we spent the entire day on the castle grounds walking the walls, visiting the many displays recreating the original rooms of the castle and depicting the daily life in war times of the castle’s royal and noble families. It was a beautiful sunny day, one of few we’d seen in recent weeks, and we simply soaked it up.
Finally we headed to Stratford-upon-Avon, a traditional English city famous for being the birthplace and final resting place of Shakespeare. We visited the house thought to be where he grew up and the church that houses his tomb. Again we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day and spent our time drinking tea, eating scones and strolling around the river area…how English are we becoming!?! It was a perfect weekend discovering some of the gems of England.

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