Stratford

Hi again...much has happened in the last week...where to start? First, to note that while I have lots of photos on my camera, the laptop at the hostel I'm at currently won't accept my SD card--too big--so I can't share any photos yet.

I met Karen without difficulty on Saturday morning at Leicester Square tube station. Apart from hassles with Canadian officials in Toronto about the size of her toiletry supplies--she had to spend $27 and change for nine 100 ml bottles to store shampoo, hairspray, etc in--she had no difficulties on the flight. We had a full English breakfast (toast, eggs, sausages, bacon, stewed tomatoes, and one gigantic fried mushroom) at St Martin-in-the-Fields Cafe in the Crypt before heading to Marylebone station to catch our train to Stratford-upon-Avon. We spent several hours getting out to our hostel, and then back into town, as our accomodations were somewhat removed from town and the buses only ran twice an hour. Once we got back to town,we went to Shakespeare's birthplace and toured around the Tudor home that he was raised in.

We walked around the Festival Theatre a bit--they're doing major renovations on the Royal Theatre now--and found the Courtyard Theatre where we were headed for As You Like It. We had dinner there before the show. The theatre itself was set up in a theatre-in-the-round kind of set up, several balconies set up in horseshoes around the stage. Afterward, we relaxed with a drink at Encore, a local pub nearby.

On Sunday, we made the decision to stay around Stratford for the day, as our day had been rather brief the day before (like many other places in England, everything closes by 6). We took a boat tour along the Avon River and then visited both Anne Hathaway's cottage (Will's wife) which was a show of lovely flowers and herbs as well as Mary Arden's farm (his mother's home when she was growing up). Stratford was gorgeous, definitely very Shakespeare-themed. Karen and I both saw how ON has tried to replicate it, with the numerous willows growing along the river, the cute boutiquey stores along the main street and of course all things Shakespeare.
Apparently, Stratford receives the second-most visitors each year (after London), of any city in England.

The trip back to London took almost four hours due to closures of several tracks. We transferred twice, and on the trip from Leamington (pronounced Lemmington) Spa to Reading (pronounced Redding) we shared a crowded foyer space (no chairs, just 8 other passengers, sitting on the floor or standing wherever they could find a space) including a slightly wild-eyed man who claimed to have invented a new device that would allow parents to track their child's every move 24 hours a day.