Spring Break 4: The Land of the Bard

My last day of spring break was spent in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. What's more, we were there on his birthday but unfortunately, celebrations weren't starting until the weekend (figures!).  

The town was pretty and had a very traditional village feel to it, but it was one of the biggest tourist traps I've seen here. Every single building, shop and business had a Shakespeare reference in it and there were giftshops on every corner. Street signs pointed to Shakespeare's Birthplace, Shakespeare's Daughter's Husband's House, Shakespeare's Grave, etc.

When we first got there, we quickly found our way off the beaten path and followed some gorgeous, flower-lined pathways along the seemingly endless canals that meander through the town. It was almost unreal; many houses had long riverboats moored outside, bobbing placidly in the water. Everything was in full bloom, birds sang, there wasn't a cloud in the sky -- it was quite beautiful when you got off the main drag.

We had the entire day there, so we ended up exploring just about every road and side street of Stratford... which, in the end, only took up the morning. By early afternoon, we had seen everything there was to see, with the exception of paying to walk through Shakespeare's house and museum.

So, after a quick lunch in the park we headed to the Holy Trinity Church to see the old Bard's grave.

It was a humble chapel (relatively speaking!) and although it was crowded, it had much less of that frantic tourist air about it. A stewardess at one end of the sanctuary asked for a contribution of 50 pence and then let us through.

And there he was, good old Shakespeare set in stone, along with his wife Anne Hathaway, daughter, and son-in-law. It was kind of a special moment, just to be there and realizing I was just feet away from the most celebrated playwright in history.

We still had 4 hours to kill before our train so we ultimately ended up spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park (a wise choice as far as I'm concerned, seeing as we were lugging around our travel backpacks with our entire week's worth of clothes and supplies). We splurged for our last meal and ate at a nice restaurant before catching the night train back to London.

It was an incredible five days, all the way around. It was really nice to be travelling at our own pace , and some of the places we went and the things we saw were just amazing. Once again I feel so deeply awed by the world and the opportunities I've had thus far to explore it. I can't wait to see what's around the next corner!