Good morning everyone,
well, the kids are actually on their way to bed again and I am taking advantage of the free internet access to send you an update of our lovely day!
Today we took a 2 hour drive to Stratford-upon-Avon to spend the whole day at Shakespeare's home town. We met up with Joyce, a local guide, for a 2 hour tour giving us more information about all the buildings and stories behind this famous writer. We stopped at the Holy Trinity Church, where he is buried under the altar along with his wife Anne and his two daughters.
From there it was a short drive to Anne Hathaway's house, where she grew up till she married William at the age of 26 - he was 18! It was such a lovely environment, with beautiful and picturesque gardens filled with flowers, trees, fruits and vegetable fields and a huge orchard to run around and roam freely. We were all in heaven and spending a good amount of time charging our nature batteries after having been in and around the city energy. Note to Liz and Shawn: You moms will be proud of your kids, because they took the offer of the guide to touch the kitchen floor just a bit further and felt like licking it, would be even more of a token to Shakespeare - too bad we couldn't take pictures inside ;o) From there we went back to Stratford down town to have a tour through Shakespeare's birthplace, a house he kept all his life and turned it into a pub later on in his life.
In the afternoon we had 3,5 hours to ourselves exploring this quaint, little village more, by strolling around the shopping area - or even going shopping - finding some good eating places, taking a row boat out on the river Avon,.... and meeting up at 6pm again along the park at the river side. We had some pizza, cheese and fruit picknick enjoying the lovely, warm summer evening - they don't come around too often here I believe. The cool thing is, that it stays light till 10pm and we took advantage of that playing some soccer at the park - thanks to Mark's purchase of a soccer ball!
Back at the hotel 2 hours later, the kids had a bit of mingling in the rooms and will be off to sleep soon for sure - we hope ;o) Maybe....
Off to our next destination tomorrow - Yorkshire and Leeds, with a visit to Bath here in the morning.
We'll see what the next hotel has to offer in terms of internet, but maybe you won't hear from us for a few days....
So long, farewell,.... The gang
HIGH AND LOW Of the DAY
Penelope: High: Frolicking through the fields at the orchard at Anne Hathaway's house / Low: Getting really tired on the bus ride to Stratford
Grace: High: Boating on the river Avon / too much ABBA music on the bus drive back
Gretchen: High: Garden at Anne Hathaway's house and church bells ringing while sitting on the river in the evening atmosphere / Low: too much ABBA
Cole: High: Playing soccer / Low: Too much ABBA
Jonathan: High: Licking the floor / Low: Too much ABBA
Well I guess the "Low" was evident for today - the bus driver's music ain't our taste, but who has any CD's these days....?!
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