Today we drove to Stratford-on-Avon, William Shakespeare's birthplace. This was an easy drive on well marked roads to a fairly large town, so we enjoyed driving through the rolling hills and countryside. Stratford is only 12 miles from Chipping Campden, a town of about 26,000 people, but over a million tourists visit every year. It was not too crowded today and we enjoyed the overcast skies and even a bit of rain later in the afternoon. We parked the car in a lot and walked around the town, stopping for a cider at the Golden Bee pub. We wandered into the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and inquired about tickets to see the currently playing "Two Gentlemen of Verona," but decided against seeing the play. I didn't think Cory would really appreciate or enjoy it. From what I read, we could have bought cheap standing tickets and easily found a seat after intermission. Apparently, people leave halfway through the performance. Not surprising as Shakespeare is hard to understand if you haven't read or studied it.

We met our tour guide, David, and took a two hour walking tour of historical Stratford . David pointed out the different periods of architecture and gave us some history of the town. Originally a sheep herding town, it was built from timber from nearby forests and suffered some devastating fires at various times in its history. Despite those, we still saw half-timbered buildings that survived from the 1400's. We walked past Shakespeare's birthplace, a large wooden structure, and learned that William Shakespeare's father owned a tannery and employed apprentices in the lower level of the home while the family lived above. That probably didn't smell very good at all.

We then walked to the church and school Shakespeare attended in his youth. The school has been on this site and in this building since the 1500's. Down the block from the school is the Holy Trinity Church which is even older. It contains the grave of William Shakespeare, his wife Anne, and their daughter as well as his mother and father. The graves are inside the church and the bodies are buried under the stones right in front of the altar.

After our tour, we then went back to the Golden Bee to have dinner. Cory ate the largest chili/cheese hotdog I've ever seen. Stuffed to the gills, we waddled back to the car and drove home. It was an interesting day.