We left for Stratford about 10ish on the 11th of June. I, being stupid, didn't realize what time it was, and Greta had to come and knock on my door to get me so we could leave. We got to the train station and still had plenty of time, so it was ok. The train ride was long, but nice, and I slept a bit. When we got to Stratford we walked to our Bed and Breakfast. At the B & B, we found out that the boys were staying in another B & B down the road from us. So, we said goodbye to the boys and went to unpack. I was in a room with Mal and Nobe on the top floor-but it was only two little flights of stairs. The first thing we did was lay on the beds and sigh. Then we met the other girls and talked out plans, and decided to take naps. Then we met the boys for dinner. After our early dinner at a pub called the Lamplighter, we split into two groups and walked around Stratford. Mal bought a charm, we took some pictures with the Swans, and we went to see Shakespeare's grave. Then we sat by the river and went to see the show. The show we saw tonight was The Taming of the Shrew. I had never seen it, but I remembered Emily and Kurt doing a scene from it in class. I thought it was very good. They took a drunk man (Petrucio) and dressed him up at the beginning, and they stripped him at the end, leaving him in just his underwear. When we went outside after the show it was raining, and we walked staight back to the B & B's.
The next morning we woke up and had real food for breakfast! Soooo good! Then we got ready and met up with the boys for our day of touring Shakespeare's houses. The first house we went to was Anne Hathaway's, then we went to Mary Arden's, and then we went back into town for lunch. We went to two different pubs for lunch. One group went back to the Lamplighter, and one group went to a different one. After lunch we met up, and Em and Nobe decided to go back to the B & B, and do some other things. The rest of us went to two more houses, then back to the B & B's to freshen up before the show. The show tonight was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is my favourite Shakespeare play, but this production was not my favourite my any means. Altogether it was a good show. I liked the way the moon moved across the 'sky', and I liked the fact that Titania's bower went up into the air, but the fairies had creepy dolls, and I thought it detracted from the overall production. After the show we went to a pub called 'The Dirty Duck' which is a pub that all the actors go to. I got a Pimm's and lemonade, which is an amazing drink. I don't think they have it in the States though. :-( We met some other American students and went into the "actor's side" of the bar. After that we went to a karaoke bar called Ripple's, and I talked with an actress who played one of the fairies. Then we went to the B & B's and just slept!
We had real breakfast again waiting for us when we got downstairs again! Then we packed our bags and left for Wawick Castle. It was beautiful! We wandered the grounds, saw a giant trebuchet(catapult) being shot, and went through the castle. We also went through a tower that was supposedly haunted. The guy who lived there was killed, and then the guy who killed him felt so guilty that he killed himself. They had the story set up as a haunted house type thing. It was basically really cool, but really short. After that we climbed a really tall tower, saw a bird show, went through the peacock gardens, and met up to go home. On the train ride home, Rachel got a text from Jess saying that Schiller was refunding us for half of our meal plan. That definitely made our day!
No comments:
Post a Comment