Shakespeare on Wheels

We took a mandatory 3 day trip down to Stratford to see some of the Shakespeare sights and to watch some of his plays. Along the way down we stopped at a couple of other Historic sights including Coventry Cathedral, Kenilworth Castle ruins, and Warwick Castle. Coventry Cathedral is an ancient Cathedral that was bombed during World World War 2. The original building was then left alone without any efforts to restore its former glory. As we walked around the ruins we even saw bits of the original stained glass shards still in their window frames. At the top of the Cathedral two of the beams from the celing fell and formed the Cross and so they too were left just as they fell. Alongside these ruins lies a new, modern Cathedral of the same name. Inside are magnificent stained glass windows and modern religious sculptures that simply take your breath away. The two Cathedrals side by side really give the impression of stately strength and historic value. Inside the ruins is a plaque which sums up the Cathedral's existence perfectly. It reads "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former." Our second stop was at the Kenilworth Castle ruins. This castle was owned by Robert Dudley and he used it to woo Queen Elizabeth I - which didn't work by building an entire wing just for her to live in when she visited. He went bankrupt after she left and the castle slowly deteriorated. Attached to the ruins is a restored garden that contains many of the patterns that signify courtly love. Before reaching Stratford we made one more stop. This time at Warwick ("Warrick") Castle. This 4 HOUR stop was ridiculous and everybody hated it. What it is is a sort of Renaissance fair, theme park built onto a caslte without all the rides, booths, and attractions. Really pointless. We watched a bird of prey flying as well as a Trebuchet exhibit - the only exciting parts of this adventure - and we couldn't wait to get back on the bus. When we finally made it to Stratford we checked into our B&B
guesthouses and then prepared for the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of "Winter's Tale." The performance was....interesting. It had a modernistic approach that I didn't understand or appreciate. There were, however, really cool technical effects that blew my mind. Sad to say, I did fall asleep during this performance because it just didn't attract my attention. Our second day in Stratford was more for exploring. We took a tour of the historic Shakespeare sights in the morning visiting the Birthplace, Nash's House, and Hall's Croft as well as the school that Shakespeare attended and his actual grave sight. Many of the sights didn't allow photography and a brave member of our group asked why (now you'll know why many places don't allow photography). There was an instance where someone broke into the house and stole only certain items. The thieves seemed to have a "shopping list" knowing what was most valuable to steal. Anyway, after that we had free time until the optional tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theater. The little group I went with (containing only Kadish, Lang, and myself) had so much fun. We first wandered the historic streets taking in the sights and boutiques then found a little cafe for lunch. Afterwards we wandered some more and then rented a true Shakespeare rowboat (named "Beatrice" for Shakespeare's "Much Ado..") All of the boats were named after Shakespeare's female characters. We had the boat for a half an hour before the tour. We rowed all along the Avon taking turns at the actual rowing and singing true "Rowboat songs" such as "Row Row Row Your Boat" and then advancing to the more elaborate as we floated under a weeping willow singing "Kiss the Girl." Classic! The tour of the theater took us upstage, backstage, and inside all the technical areas of the theater. Really fascinating and intense. That night we saw the performance of "As You Like It" in the RSC theater. It was a lot more entertaining and less sleep-full than the previous night's. Our third and final day in Stratford started off with visits to the Anne Hathaway Cottage and Mary Arden's farm. We also stopped in Oxford where I visited Christ Church Cathedral/College where they filmed much of the Harry Potter movies. There wasn't too much to see in the city of Oxford but, yet again, we had 5 hours to kill. (Definitely a cop out for our instructors so they don't have to plan anything). Ridiculous but I made the best of it by wandering through the streets and visiting the famous "Eagle and the Child" pub where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien frequented with the other "Inklings." Let's just say, I couldn't wait to be back on the bus for 2 hours. The week had its highs and lows but overall I'm glad I'm here!