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Published: February 22nd 2007
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the hathaway house
how neat is this. you almost want to think it is fake. Feb. 3
Today I went on the trip to Stratford on Avon with the school. Just Alison and I went from our little group of friends. It was a neat trip….I didn’t realize that the bus ride there was going to be 3 hours when I signed up and that was a little obnoxious but it was still lots of fun. When we got to Stratford that first thing we did was drive to the outskirts of the town to see Anne Hathaway’s house…….not the author of Princess Diaries, silly……she was Shakespeare’s wife. The house was so interesting to look at. It still had an old thatched roof and the whole thing looked just like a fairy tale house - like maybe where Rapunzel’s parents would have lived. We got to walk through and look at the different rooms…..life was quite a bit more difficult back then I would have to say. The house was cold and dark and there weren’t very many rooms……..and this was the house of a fairly well off family. The gardens were so pretty though, lots of little herbs and flowers and a stone path. At the gift shop I bought and eraser that says
the birthplace
me in front of Shakespeare's birth place. “out damned spot” on it 😊 hurray for literary jokes!! After the house we went back into the town of Stratford and took a walking tour. We got to see Shakespeare’s birth place and school. We also saw the location of the house that Shakespeare’s wife and children lived in. Sadly, the house was destroyed by its last vindictive owner, but there is a nice garden there now. I can’t remember the name of the man who destroyed the house but there is actually a law in Stratford that no one else with the same last name can ever live in the town again. Fortunately it was not a very common name……our guide didn’t say if it had ever been put to the test --- this whole thing happened quite a while ago. We went and saw the church where Shakespeare is buried. It was a really pretty church and we got to read the curse that he had engraved over his tomb. It is something about beware of moving his bones…….that man had a way with words. We walked along the Avon to see the royal Shakespeare Theater. It was actually neat that we got to see it b/c
the american statue
Al is getting in touch with here inner Alice in Wonderland....."did i drink the right bottle to fit through the door?" at the end of this season the theater is going to be closed down for 3 years to remodel the whole thing. While we were walking along the river we got to see some of the infamous swans. Swans are the symbol of the town and by tradition are considered property of the monarch. We also got to see the world famous Dirty Duck pub. It is where all the actors from the theater go after shows. It’s actually called the Black Swan but the story is that and American solder during one of the world wars called a black swan “just a dirty duck” and the name stuck. Quite a few famous people have come through that pub. Once our tour was over we had a few hours to ourselves before we had to be back on the bus. So Alison, some of her friends and I went back up to the church to look around and then walked into town to find some food. We found this little café and sat there for almost 2 hours. We got cream teas and some other goodies. It was such a nice little place to just sit. On the way out
roald dahl juice box
seriously this is the same thing that the giants drink in the BFG!! of the café we realized that there was a bubble machine blowing bubbles from the top of the building so we felt compelled to stop and play in them for a little while……..it was the inner 6 year old in me. After that we went to the gift shop for the Birthplace building. Unfortunately it was quite expensive to see the inside of the house so we just bought post cards and took pictures of the outside. I got a Shakespeare book on love. It’s really nice……some one went through and compiled all of his best quotes on love. I also got prints of two of my favorite passages. I really like Shakespeare so it was fun for me to be in a town all about him. After the gift shop we went to the chocolate shop………this has become a staple on all of our little trips. We have to bring truffles back with us from where ever we go. After the chocolate store it was about time for us to catch the bus so we headed back to the main square where the America statue is. The founder of Pennsylvania, I think it was, came from that area so he gave a statue in honor of one of the queen’s jubilees. Don’t quote me on that relationship of people…..but I know it had something to do with some one from that town going to America and then giving the statue. Oh another interesting fact……..the founder of the Harvard library that was the beginning for the school actually came from Stratford--- tuck that away in your hat for jeopardy some day. Anyway, we got back on the bus and tried to sleep the whole way home……which is fairly difficult on a bus. On the way home though I did have my Roald Dahl juice box that I found at the rest stop. It made me so happy --- the have characters on them from the stories and I got the one that is supposed to be the drink they have in the BFG. i can't even count how many times I must have read that book when I was little. Ah well……it was a fun day.
What I miss: real coca- cola…it taste funny over here
What I love: my eraser…..it makes me laugh
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