The Immortal Bard

We've had a constant stream of Shakespeare since we arrived in London. We've been reading The Merchant of Venice in class and on Saturday we took a train to Stratford to see where Shakespeare was born, and later was buried. The town has been built up as a tourist attraction with all things Shakespeare. The Royal Shakespeare Company has a theatre there and there are street upon streets filled with shops and restaurants with names like Shakespearience, or Montague House. We picniced near the river Avon where is a sort of mini carnival with a merry-go-round and some game booths. There are a large number of barges on the river and a good number of swans ans ducks, all kept well fed by gullible tourists such as ourselves who enjoy feeding them. The house where Shakespeare was born was very interesting. First you're taken through a small exhibit on his life and writings then you walk outside through gardens and into his family's house, which was quite large in comparison to historic houses from say, Williamsburg. Shakespeare's father was a glove maker and a community leader, so I guess he did fairly well. There's not too much in the house from when Shakespeare would have lived there, but recreations have been placed in the rooms to simulate the Renaissance period. I will confess that I got goosebumps being in the room where Shakespeare was born, my English nerd side came out. It was also interesting to see that the windows of the house had a good bit of names carved into them where people had left their mark on the house. Several famous authors like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, as well as Presidents Jefferson and John Adams had visited the house. The birthplace as it is often referred has been a literary pilgrimage of sorts for hundreds fo years. Shakespeare's tomb is quite ordinary and simple, but housed in the church he would have gone to during his time in Stratford. I just realized I forgot to write about Stonehenge . . . oh well, more tomorrow!