Warwick, Stratford upon Avon, and Oxford

Trip #2!

Thankfully, our coach left a bit later this time. We spent most of our morning and afternoon at Warwick Castle. In addition to other obviously important historical events, it was also where they filmed a few scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so we were pretty excited by it. Apparently the whole castle is owned by Madame Tussaud's now--it's a little touristy, but still neat. We climbed the towers, saw the trebuchet in action, watched the falconers and their birds, and were very impressed by the archer doing demonstrations.

We then went to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's home town. We saw the actual Royal Shakespeare Company perform an actual play by Shakespeare (As You Like It). It was AWESOME. I wish we'd studied the play a little more before going, but I still loved it. They were funny, talented, and musical, believe it or not! A few of the actors had fantastic voices. I wish I could see the RSC more often--I think I'd really love Shakespeare if I could. After the show we all went to the "Dirty Duck," a pub that the actors frequent. It was nice; Eizabeth and I talked with Dr. Ostrander, former dean of the music school for a while! He was on the trip with us, visiting with his wife.

We spent the night in a cute B&B in Stratford, and were fed a delicious English breakfast this morning. One of the IC London professors gave a talk about Shakespeare at the church where he is buried, then we were free to wander the town for a bit. Luckily for us, Stratford was having a food festival this weekend, and we got to try all sorts of delicious things.

Our last stop of the trip was Oxford. We were left to our own devices here, and Elizabeth and I didn't find anything spectacular. It was cute, though, and there were lots of people around. We spent most of our time browsing in book stores.

Gosh, it's a good thing we don't have to do anything tomorrow. It's exhausting, all this travelling! ;)