Monday in Stratford upon Avon

Sunday 2/15/09 Continued
The rental car that we have is an Asta, a small 4 door hatchback that drives very well, according to Martha, but it does have a small problem with wanting to go over to the lane to the left of us but think that has something to do with the American driver. She is doing a super job and glad that I just have to give directions.
When we went upstairs tonight we found still only 1 roommate and we both had bottom bunks. Our roomie did not return until after we were asleep so we did not meet Margery, a middle age lady from Britton who was on her way to caravan in the lake area, until the morning. We finally figured out that she has a travel trailer on a lot and is going up to use it for a few weeks.
Breakfast was included in the cost of our rooms and consisted as very good cafeteria style English type meal which we enjoyed very much. Put our bags in the car……have yet to open our large bags…. Still living out of our small stuff sacks….. and by 9:30 we were on our way for a day in Shakespeare County, Stratford upon Avon.
Found an all day lot to park the car in and first order of the day was to figure out just how we would leave the car park and get back to the major highway when we left after the play as it would be dark by then. We then found Shakespeare’s Globe theatre hoping to tour it but, much to our dismay saw that it is in the middle of a major renovation so….
We went down the street, using the path along the lake, where we saw the beautiful swans putting on a show for us. On we walked to Trinity Church where Shakespeare and other notable people are buried. Went to the Courtyard Theatre, tonight we will see the play “The Tempest” to check on our tickets and to see what time it will get out tonight.
The weather was clear and sunny but very cold. Our layers of clothes seem to be working for us but wish we had a scarf to put over our faces at times. Decided to pick up the hop on hop off bus tour, which will allow us to tour 3 of the 5 houses on the bus tour. Probably our own fault, but we did not realize that it would be an hour until the next bus… we were sure that whole hour that one was right around the corner so we continued to wait until one did finally show up. We saw the Mary Arden Farm (I picked up my one rock from England at this stop) where Shakespeare’s Grandmother was raised, the home where he was born and raised, and the John Nash house which is next to the empty lot where he lived while married (that one was not worthwhile). Enjoyed coffee and shared a plain scone while at the farm.
At his birthplace the floor, slate, is original from 1523. The guide told us that since 1967 over 15 million people have walked over these floors and they are still in good shape. We then picked up the bus again and rode the whole trip around again and listened to the recording about what we were seeing to see what we had missed. Afterwards we walked back to check on the car then went to the Pen and Parchment for a 2 for 1 fish and chips dinner. We have plenty of time to relax while waiting for our play to start so we walked over to the Black Swan (or as the US soldiers called it during the war, The Dirty Duck) for our desert. Martha had Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake with blood orange coulis and double cream whil’st Mary had Tiramisu cake with double cream and both a huge cup of coffee since we were going to be up late tonight. After such a huge desert we did a major walkabout to burn off a few of these wonderful carbs and calories that we had just consumed before going to the theatre.
The play was very different then what I had expected but it was good and since we had read the story while eating our fish and chips I was able to follow it pretty good.
Bult by intermission I asked Martha to leave as I was concerned about driving back to Heathrow Airport so late at night… Martha was driving but I was giving directions and I just don’t see that well at night anymore. We made it back safely but found the bus we needed stopped running at 10….. it was 10:30. Our driver took us to another terminal and we had to take the train to get over to where we had reserved a Yotel (very small pod to sleep two at the airport but in a different terminal) We later found out that the train stopped running at midnight so if we had stayed for the full play we would have been in trouble getting around the airport. Martha slept…. I just laid there and watched the time go by… woke up at 4 to catch the train back to another terminal where we would leave for Lisbon…. Guess what train did not open until 5….but we finally made it back to where we needed to go, got checked in and flew off to sunny warm Portugal.
The rest of the story tomorrow.