England Part 3: Stratford

Welcome to the third installment of Kate and Shayna's madcap English weekend. For those of you just joining me, I'm taking a slow trek across our jam-packed weekend in the English countryside. We covered so much ground, I have to parse it into a few posts.

So far we've covered Bath and Stonehenge and that was just the morning of the first day.

After taking a rather windswept loop around Stonehenge, Shayna and I drove north to Stratford-upon-Avon, better known as the birthplace of Shakespeare. It's where the Stratford Theatre Festivals get their name. Not from Stratford, Ontario. Nice try, Canada!

It was 4pm or so and the sun was just setting (welcome to the British Isles in winter, people). But we bundled up and headed out to check out the 16th century Tudor architecture aruond the city.

Don't know Tudor?

Well, it was popularised in the wealthy times during the 16th-century reign of this guy:

That's right. Jonathan Rhys Meyers.


And for anyone living outside America who actually got a real education in school, what I really meant was this guy:

Sorry Americans. But it's true. Should I ask Leno to do a Jaywalking skit with this photo and see how many people call him Henry VIII? Does that need to happen? I think we all know how that'd end. "Um, Ben Franklin?"

By the way, I found that picture of Henry Tudor on a site called "Sassafras Junction". Doesn't that seem like a baby name given to the child of Gwen Stefani or Ashlee Simpson? LOL

Moving on.

Many of the folks who came to prosperity during the reign of Henry VIII (aka Henry Tudor) built fancy houses with expensive wooden facades to show off their cash money.

Ergo, Timber became the architectural bling of the 16th century.

That one there is like a Tudor-gasm.

So here are some of the buildings we saw in Stratford. It's amazing how they've sort of sunken and gotten lumpy with time, as though they're barely propped up anymore yet still standing.

I mean, you're looking at a house that was built 20-40 years after the clock was invented. THE CLOCK! You know? It really makes me devalue the 70s walkup I used to live in that leaked like a sieve when it rained.

Walking around Stratford at dusk:

The fact that they didn't put "Ye Olde" in the title shows restraint. And I like that.


And then, lit by the light of a dozen nasty orange street lamps, we stumbled upon Shakespeare's digs:

Then we went to eat in one of the Tudor buildings, which contain about 45 fireplaces and as many dark timbers as you see on the outside. Here I try to take a sly picture before anyone sees me. Shayna said I wasn't very sneaky at all, and in fact everyone saw me.

One blurry picture of not a whole lot. Was it worth it?

Then we went window shopping a little. I have to show you this one store. It seemed like a Gap inside, all knitwear and ribbed tees and brightly colored mitten sets. Then we stepped outside and saw the name of the shop.

LOL. They skipped the innuendo and jumped straight to their target market.

SO Stratford was nice! And a lovely place to stay! We spent the night in the rooftop twin room in a little old couple's B&B. The husband made us a "cracking good English brekkie" in the morning. The wife actually said "jolly good". TWICE. I wanted to stuff her in a crumpet tin and take her home as a souvenir. WHY DIDN'T I?! My one regret...

We left Stratford in the morning and headed to Warwick (pron. Warrick), home of the WARWICK CASTLE!!! Get excited: There was a falconer.

I repeat: There was a falconer.

More on that later. :)