Stratford

Today we explored the birthplace of a man that has become an increasing source of pain for me over the past few weeks. Now, it's not that I don't like Shakespeare, because I do. The man is brilliant. But having to read Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth in one night has this way of getting extremely tedious. Then to discuss Shakespeare for four straight hours on a sunny spring day!! Painful. But I do have to say that Rupert Arrowsmith not only has a great name, but a great passion for William Shakespeare, and a way of unlocking the mysteries of his tragedies in such a way that makes the whole experience more enjoyable than I had initially anticipated.

That being said, Stratford was a treat. I woke up to see the sun shining, sang my way to the baptist church, did a little dance because of the weather, and then hopped into Madelaine's car with Laura, Sharon, and Heather. I think half the excitement for me is the drive through the countryside. I love road trips. And when they are in England- wow. Just that much better. We started off the day with a tour through the home of Anne Hathaway- wife of Shakespeare. Our tour guide was border-line scary, which made things very amusing. She was one of those ladies who would gladly devote 4 hours of her time to discuss the finer details of when Shakespeare most likely went to the bathroom, or what spoon he may have used to eat his custard. A die hard. She also had this crazy tendency of introducing every new thought with a question, which she would immediately answer herself. For all that, I liked her. She was quirky.

After that we headed into the heart of Stratford, split into groups, and went on to see the birth place of Shakespeare, Nash's house ( home of his daughter and son-in law) and the church where he was buried. The man is an icon.

As fascinating as the houses were, I really enjoyed walking through the town, our picnic lunch along the Avon, and our pit stop at the mini- stone henge. Just for the record, there are exactly 72 stones arranged in a massive circle. I know this, because I counted. Marion tried to tell us that part of the mystery/magic of the stones is that 1) they don't know how they got there, or for what purpose, and 2) you will never count the same number of stones twice.
Both of which, I disproved. Mark and I both counted 72 stones, and they were placed there for time travel. It's true- just ask Dianna Gabaldon, author of Outlander (a great historical fiction)

When we got home, I met up with Beccy walking Tiger and so I joined them for a walk, just in time to catch one brilliant sunset. Then I ate a sandwich. Heather called about 5 minutes later, and said she was going for a walk. I joined her for the tale end of the beforementioned brilliant sunset- and then I resolved to be productive and actually do some research for my upcoming paper on the maintenance of monarchical authority in Henry V, and Richard II. That lasted about one hour, until I had to come down and say hi to Beccy. Now we are having a glass of wine, eating toasted hot cross buns with butter, and waiting to watch a good chick flick that starts at 9:00.

What else can I say? Life is good.