Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon

      The second big trip I took my sister on was to Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born! Everyone has told me since I arrived in the UK that I needed to visit this town, but I never really knew why. Well now I know, it was amazing! So much of the town is not only structured the same way it has been for hundreds of years, there are many of the original buildings as well!

We arrived fairly early in the morning, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake because nothing was open (it was a Sunday) until noon. We hung around and looked into the shops until the pub we wanted to eat at finally opened. This pub was really amazing. It was built in 1496. It was over 500 years old! It was an incredible place and I loved eating there. What was available was a carvery, so you took your plate up and they carved out big chucks of meat for you and you added in what vegetables you wanted. It was pretty good and we also got a big pot of tea to go with. 

 It was without a doubt the most British meal I have ever had.

After lunch we continued to wander around a bit, heading in the direction of Shakespeare's birthplace. We stopped at more shops. and eventually found our way to where we were going. The ticket we bought allowed us entry to several historical buildings around the town that were related to Shakespeare, and naturally we started with the birthplace. It was an interesting building. It was much larger than I had expected, his family was actually quite wealthy for their background. Unfortunately over the years the building had been remade into an inn, so what was original was really up for debate. 

After we left the birthplace we intended to move straight on to the other sites....unfortunately the shops were so pretty. We spent a good several hours going into all the shops we saw. There was one Christmas store that was lit up and brimming with decorations. 

Another interesting store we went into was kind of a Harry Potter store...but it also incorporated all these different popular fiction stories as well. There was a museum upstairs that had replica props from all these different movies and each room had different songs from fantasy movie soundtracks playing. I am proud to say I recognized all of them. 

The building itself this weird shop was in was from the 1400s, and the layout and structure of it was so bizarre! I would have loved to see what it had looked like when it was first built and how it functioned. 

By the time we stopped looking at all the stores we were running out of time and daylight (it gets dark between 4 and 4:30 over here). We managed to fit in one other historical building on our way to Shakespeare's grave. This building was unique because, like many of the other buildings, it was built in the 1400s. HOWEVER it was the only building that still had its original exterior. All the other buildings had been redone during the Tudor era. 

It was getting dark by the time we made it to the chapel where Shakespeare was buried, so we did not have a lot of time there. I wish we had been able to stay longer and look at all the graves, but we had to head home. 

It was a really fun day and I have been informed that I have to take my housemates back so they can see it all too! Oi vay!!!!