Thursday we headed off to Stratford upon Avon where William Shakespeare was born and lived. We visited Anne Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife) cottage (first pcture) - started as two rooms ended with 12 rooms - and we visted Shakespeare's home (last picture) where they showed us the room where they believe he was born. It was quite interesting. There were several of us who did not see the no pictures sign, so I got a complete set of pictures of Anne Hathaway's house. At least it wasn't like the royal residences where they said they take your camera and kick you out. After that I asked about pictures.
The second picture is of our group walking down the main street of Stratford upon Avon in the rain. We really were quite lucky, we only had one day that was really cold and rainy and that was in Edinburgh. This rain went away almost immediately. Three of us ate at an English eatery and I had this wonderful dish of peppers and mushrooms in a tomato sauce with a potato gratin on top. I have to say, everything we had while in England, if it was supposed to be hot, it was really hot. Of course I had had tea and milk. We finished with a tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. A couple of us went for coffee and watched the end of a play on close circuit TV, then met this delightful lady who was there for a week just to see plays. Her son lived and worked in Dubais and it was interesting to hear about that. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures there, but it was fabulous. The coffee shop is ontop of the original stage and they preserved the original wall and floor boards, so we were on the same floor of the actors who performed Shakespeare's original plays.
From there it was on to Warwick Castle for a tour and our farewell dinner (3 and 4). This castle, unlike Ruthin, was really commercialized, as you can see from the entrance sign. Once in side, all kinds of activities, esecially for kids and all of course for a fee. But then after seeing the costs of things, it is understandable. We had a tour of the Castle which really was a series of rooms with wax figures telling the story of Daisy and Bryan, played by our guide who was in costume and stayed in character. It was a little commercial but the figures was amazing and the furniture and word carvings on the wall were magnificent. The same could not be said for the dinner. I had a lamb and squash casoulet, which was a poor excuse for lamb stew. The lamb was tough and had a strong flavor, maybe not the best lamb and certainly not of the quality from the night before. The soup was a roasted squash puree and was the best thing of the night. The should not have had this dinner after the Welsh dinner, there was just no comparison.
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