5 June ’05, Sunday Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Stratford-upon-Avon was just as good as all the books told us… and Wm. Shakespeare, as you already know, a legend. Arriving early we found a parking lot with room for us, so after putting in our ₤4 for 4 hours, we were heading into town. Stratford-upon-Avon is one of those towns with canals cutting through it at all angles. It is filled with tour boats, a small chain pulled ferry (about 15 people at a time for about 50 cents), small power and row boats, and canoes…a tourists delight, and it showed as you could practically walk across the canals without touching the water. Because of the canals, the roadways through the town were at all angles, and very confusing. After stopping at the Information Office, we headed over to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. There are 2 theatres there and we thought a tour of both of them was a good start in getting in the mood for “Shakespeare”. The largest sat about 1600 for a performance, and the smaller and much the older of the two, sat less than 700. Of course the smaller had the feel that we were looking for, the larger was the one that was used for all the plays except if a play is being put on by a non-professional troupe, or special occasion that would fit the smaller theatre better than the larger one. Then it was out to see the rest of the town. There are buildings that Shakespeare was born in, lived in, and died in. Homes that his mother, sisters, and daughters lived in… We also saw a church that he attended… Then, we saw that we were out of time at the parking lot, and as we were leaving we also saw a sign saying that parking without paying or expired, was a ₤60 fine… Now we were in trouble, because of all those angled streets and canals, we weren’t too sure of how to get back. I know Drew, “put a map in your pocket and you’ll never get lost…”. I can’t wait for you to get out into the real world… Well, after grabbing that little ferry, and making a couple of wrong turns, we got back to “Bumble Bee” and found that we were out of time by over 30 minutes, but still no ticket. Seeing as how we had seen most of the things we wanted, we took off for our next destination. On a good day it would have taken us about 2 hours to get there, but today…let’s just say we had a driving day from hell. It took us almost 4 hours, and just about an extra tank of gas before we found a campground that we could stay in. I know you all want the details, but it is best that we forget it…at least for the time being. Tomorrow… if we are still talking…the “Old Iron Bridge” and more
Stratford-upon-Avon was just as good as all the books told us… and Wm. Shakespeare, as you already know, a legend. Arriving early we found a parking lot with room for us, so after putting in our ₤4 for 4 hours, we were heading into town. Stratford-upon-Avon is one of those towns with canals cutting through it at all angles. It is filled with tour boats, a small chain pulled ferry (about 15 people at a time for about 50 cents), small power and row boats, and canoes…a tourists delight, and it showed as you could practically walk across the canals without touching the water. Because of the canals, the roadways through the town were at all angles, and very confusing. After stopping at the Information Office, we headed over to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. There are 2 theatres there and we thought a tour of both of them was a good start in getting in the mood for “Shakespeare”. The largest sat about 1600 for a performance, and the smaller and much the older of the two, sat less than 700. Of course the smaller had the feel that we were looking for, the larger was the one that was used for all the plays except if a play is being put on by a non-professional troupe, or special occasion that would fit the smaller theatre better than the larger one. Then it was out to see the rest of the town. There are buildings that Shakespeare was born in, lived in, and died in. Homes that his mother, sisters, and daughters lived in… We also saw a church that he attended… Then, we saw that we were out of time at the parking lot, and as we were leaving we also saw a sign saying that parking without paying or expired, was a ₤60 fine… Now we were in trouble, because of all those angled streets and canals, we weren’t too sure of how to get back. I know Drew, “put a map in your pocket and you’ll never get lost…”. I can’t wait for you to get out into the real world… Well, after grabbing that little ferry, and making a couple of wrong turns, we got back to “Bumble Bee” and found that we were out of time by over 30 minutes, but still no ticket. Seeing as how we had seen most of the things we wanted, we took off for our next destination. On a good day it would have taken us about 2 hours to get there, but today…let’s just say we had a driving day from hell. It took us almost 4 hours, and just about an extra tank of gas before we found a campground that we could stay in. I know you all want the details, but it is best that we forget it…at least for the time being. Tomorrow… if we are still talking…the “Old Iron Bridge” and more