Wales and Stratford upon Avon

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After visiting Dublin, we crossed the Irish Seavia ferry. We sat with a couple of guys, including Mark, one who was a sort of sports star in his town of Galway. The Irish have a national sport called hurling, known as the fastest field sport in the world. The game is quite brutal because of the no-holds-barred use of their hurling sticks. None of the players are paid so they all have regular day jobs, yet matches can have as many as 80,000 people in attendance. Apparently, Mark’s team is the second best inIreland, so we shared a couple of pints of Guinness.

We drove through the Wales countryside on our way to London. The scenery, beautiful and pastoral, was punctuated by trees, lush grass, and especially sheep (sheep outnumber people 3 to 1 in Wales). We began learning about the history of the British Monarchy and stopped by Beaumaris Castle built by Edward I. The castle was very elaborate and made for great exploring. It was in great condition, and at almost 800 years old, it was quite an amazing site.

After the castle, we stopped by Stratford upon Avon and visited Shakespeare’s birthplace. We also visited his wife Anne Hathaway’s original home. While it was neat to see their homes preserved as they were, they both seemed like tourist traps. However. I did manage to snap some great photos in the surrounding gardens.

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Photos

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Travelling through Wales, we stopped by Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is a small town with the longest place name in Europe. The name means "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave."

Shakespeare's Bed
What Shakespeare's bed may have looked like

Sculpture Garden
One of our stops was Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford upon Avon. While the area was a bit of a tourist trap, a sculpture garden outside of Anne Hathaway's house was pretty nice. Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare's wife.

Small Farm
After lunch we took a quick stroll in Stratford and stumbled upon a small farm.