suchnone #371 Day 6 Stratford

Stratford was very cool and thank goodness it was not as cold as Oxford. But it did rain most of the day. Just that misty rain that can be annoying. It really is a tourist town dedicated to everything Shakespeare. All the shops are named for him or for a character in one of his plays or a line in one of his sonnets. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has done a great job in telling his story with a great museum and several houses in the area that he lived in or his children and grandchildren lived in. We took in 3 of the houses: his birthplace, which really is not where he was born but it is the house he grew up in, Nash's House and New Hall, - New Hall is his last house and where he died but while it was later destroyed, the original wall is still there. Nash's House was next door and was the house of Shakespeare's granddaughter first husband. The upstairs of Nash's House now holds a retrospective of the published works of Shakespeare from the First Folio up to those published in 2007. And finally we went to Hall's Croft, the house of Shakespeare's eldest daughter Susanna and her husband Dr John Hall. The house also contains interesting medical artifacts and a first edition of his medical notes published in 1657. One room still contains original glass in its windows.

Now the stupidest thing we did on this trip was missing Shakespeare's burial site which was just two blocks from Hall's Croft.

We also made a stop by the Harvard House which was the house of the John Harvard's mother. Harvard University is named for him.

There was a nice garden behind Nash's House that had statues representing many of Shakespeare's plays. Below is a statue of Falstaff.











After walking around in the rain and sort of cool weather we decided we would have tea in a little place called Benson's. There were many places we could have had tea in Stratford but you see, PSP and myself grew up in a little town called Benson so it seemed appropriate. The tea and scones hit the spot.

To be honest I am not sure what we did after we got back to Birmingham. I am sure we had dinner which I think was leftover fish and chips for myself and soup for them. We may have watched a movie afterward but I am not sure. I know we watched A Christmas Story but just not sure what night we did.

Next - Day 7 Shopping in Birmingham