RAF Croughton (Day 2)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Today started out gloriously. We slept in a comfortable bed in comfortable surroundings. The only problem was we rolled out of bed a whole hour later than we planned. By the time we got off base, it was 11:30. The ride up to Stratford-upon-Avon was uneventful. The fact that there were fewer cars on the road and I’m starting to feel more comfortable with this whole “left side is the ‘right side’” thing is really helping matters. We drove by some homes just off the motorway that were awesome. Malinda fell in love with them right away. We later found out that area is called “Millionaire Row”. As it turns out, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Jaguar all have plants within a five mile radius of that area so that’s where all the “Big Wigs” live. We’ve found that homes hear are outrageously price by US standards. Some of these homes are going for over £500,000 (~$1,000,000). These homes would go for around $400,000 in the US. Anyways, on the way into town, we swung by the B&B (Curtain Call Guest House) owned by Dave. If you remember, Dave is the nice guy that manages the bowling alley. We were obviously running late from waking up late, so by the time we got there around 12:30, Dave was back on Croughton and his wife was in town shopping, much to the chagrin of Dave. We then made our way downtown to have a picnic along the riverbank of the Avon River. As Hyacinth on “Keeping Up Appearances” would say, we had a riverside picnic with riparian entertainment. While we were eating, a painting of Big Ben and the parliament caught our eyes. There was an art gallery on a barge obviously called The Barge Gallery. After looking at the artwork and quite a bit of sticker shock, we decided to wait and think about it while we finished our tour of Stratford. We walked down to Holy Trinity Church, the church where Shakespeare was baptized and buried. It cost us £3 just to see his gravesite. We later find out that pretty much all that we saw at the church was shown at the Shakespeare Centre, which was our next stop. The displays in the museum were very informative of Shakespeare’s life. I was very disappointed to find out the movie “Shakespeare In Love” was not accurate at all. Good thing I didn’t watch that movie before taking my World Lit test in college. The most interesting fact is that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams toured Shakespeare’s birthplace together before Adams became president. They displayed a copy of where they signed the guest book but we could not find their names. It would be been a lot easier to find their names if John Hancock was with them on that tour. When Shakespeare died he left most of his possessions to his firstborn daughter. His wife, Anne Hathaway, got the second best bed. The best bed is used as the guest bed and the master of the house gets the second best bed. With that, he never wanted his wife to feel like she was a guest. As time was getting late we hurried back to the art gallery before closing and purchased the modern painting of Big Ben. Whenever we build our new house with a formal dinning room, you can come over to eat with us and admire the painting from across the table. On the way out of town we stopped to take a picture of Anne Hathaway’s cottage (Just to be clear we are NOT talking about the actress here). Our time spent in Stratford was pleasant. The streets and sidewalks were wide. There was no congestion of cars or people. Also, Malinda wanted me to add that she stands corrected about the fashion…it seemed pretty much like the US in Stratford. The temperature was a beautiful 68°F and sunny. We decided the South is “Queen” no matter what country you’re in. We made it back to the base in time to play two games of bowling and to talk to Dave some more. Good times were had by all.

Picnic-Upon-Avon!

Church with Shakespeare's bones.

His gravesite. You'll be cursed if you move his bones.

The sundial read 3:30 but Tim's growing beard suggests it is well past 5 O'clock.

Relax! Just like Clinton doesn't inhale, I don't swallow.

Shakespeare's birthplace.

Who's bigger? The baby or the ball?

Dave the bowling alley manager.