Stratford-Upon-Avon

Because we wanted to get on our way at a reasonable hour, Steve and I headed out to pick up our rental car around 8:30, and we arrived at London City Airport (much closer to our hotel than Heathrow) around 9. We walked to our VW diesel, and right next to it was a smaller, sleeker Audi A3 (diesel). Steve wanted that one (why wouldn't he?), so he headed back to the office and asked for it. He came back a few minutes later with keys in hand. Woohoo!

The traffic around London was horrific! It took us something like 4 hours to get to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We were a little concerned that we wouldn't have enough time to see everything, so we started at Anne Hathaway's Cottage because Steve remembered that that was really nice. The garden was fantastic!

We continued on to the other houses, and we got them all in--including Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried.

Hall's Croft was the home of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband Dr. Hall. Symbols and reminders of his medical profession are found throughout the house.

I particularly liked the nod to the four humours: blood (sanguine), phlegm (phlegmatic), yellow bile (choleric), and black bile (melancholy).

While he has a memorial in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare is actually buried in Holy Trinity Church.

Nash's House was the home of Shakespeare's granddaughter and was beside the site of New Place where Shakespeare died. Currently, there is an archeological dig in progress at New Place.

I was quite impressed with Shakespeare's birthplace and the multi-media exhibit.

We enjoyed dinner at a cafe right across from Shakespeare's birthplace--very cool.

Here are a few other shots from about town:

After dinner, we decided to find our hotel. I didn't really know what to expect, but it looked cool in pictures. The sun was setting, so before we even checked in, Steve took some pictures outside.

Makeney Hall

The receptionist told us that we had a great room, and we both thought, "Yeah, she says this to everyone." However, when I opened the door, my jaw dropped. It was probably the biggest room I've ever stayed in. It was beautiful. We promptly had a cup of tea and a warm bath. (It was rather chilly.) I was in heaven.