Stratford, Oxford, and London

Day 7 – Tuesday – July 3, 2012 – Stratford, Oxford, and London

We had another wonderful buffet at the Britannia Hotel. This time it was breakfast, and I tasted a pale substance that looked a little like yogurt, but it was warm and had a more solid consistency. I later found out it was clotted cream. So I experienced another food that I’ve often read about in my Bronte and Austen novels.

We boarded our coach and headed to what was sure to be the highlight of my trip, Stratford-Upon-Avon. Our first stop was Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. The cottage and the adjoining gardens were exquisite and well maintained. Anne married William Shakespeare when she was 26 and he was 18. I loved the speculation that the docent made about Anne. Anne had a large dowry and was considered a great “catch.” The docent said Anne probably fell in love with Will because of his gift with words. Apparently, Shakespeare had a vocabulary that was three times the vocabulary of the average Elizabethan and thousands of words and phrases appear for the first time in his work. Volunteers did a wonderful job teaching us about the history of the cottage and Anne’s relationship with Will Shakes. The Hathaway family moved into the cottage when it was just two rooms in 1543. The family owned the cottage, which had been expanded to 12 rooms, until 1913. The tour of the cottage started in the kitchen which had a low ceiling and blue willow china just like my kitchen! The docent said it was the original china that the family used. Upstairs they had peeled away part of the wall so visitors could see a genuine example of wattle and daub which consists of willow branches and dung. (no, my house is not that old).

After touring the inside of the cottage it was time to see the breathtaking gardens. The gardens were a feast for the eyes as well as the nose. The scents from the roses, flowers, herbs, and vegetables were intoxicating. The patterns in which the plants were planted seemed directly out of a picture book. I have never seen such lush gardens. I’m sure the on- again, off- again soft rain had something to do with it. We then crossed the street to have lunch in the Tea Garden Café. The café looked like a hot house and was decorated with plants and flowers. We lunched on a buttery, broiled quarter chicken, snappy green beans, and fluffy mashed potatoes. As wonderful as Anne’s cottage was, the real thrill came next.

We made the short jaunt to the town of Stratford and Shakespeare’s Birthplace. I became more and more excited as the line neared his childhood home. The docent just inside the door told us that the first room had the original stone floors that Will had run across as a toddler. When I entered that room I took off my sandal and rubbed it on the floor. The house was considered a wealthy home for that time-period and cozy for our time period. There was a room dedicated to the famous authors whom have visited the house over several centuries. Some even vandalized the property by etching their name on window panes. Before exiting the house you are asked to sign a guest book. Standing by the guest book was an actor who was reciting lines from Romeo and Juliet.  After signing the book I lingered around to hear the rest of the monologue. When he was finished, the actor started to recite my favorite sonnet #108, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? I listened enraptured as the beautiful words were spoken eloquently from a trained actor, in Shakespeare’s birthplace! The melodious words teased tears of joy from my eyes. Let’s just say I had “a moment.” When the sonnet concluded, I applauded and then told the actor, through my tears of joy, that I would never forget that moment. My students seemed a little concerned by my tears but the actor seemed to take it in stride. I’m sure he is used to it.

So, let me explain. Not only am I an English teacher, but I’m a Shakespeare enthusiast. My parents were the first ones to introduce to the world of Shakespeare when they took us to the Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, D.C., to see The Tempest. Then I fell in love with Shakespeare again as an English major at Marymount University. The English Department was very small so we would go to the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C. to see Shakespeare’s plays. So, visiting Shakespeare’s house was a literary pilgrimage and my “moment” was spiritual not menopausal.

While walking around the town of Stratford, I noticed many school boys dressed up in blazers with crests, trousers, white button-down shirts and striped ties. How very Harry Potter-ish, I thought. If Stratford was the Mecca for literary-philes then our next stop was the Mecca for scholars, Oxford.

I loved visiting Trinity College in Dublin, and being amongst all of the history, but Oxford was UNBELIEVABLE! The buildings themselves were all a peachy-honey colored soft stone decorated with emblems and symbols of scholarly royalty. Everywhere I turned I had to remind myself to close my mouth because my jaw kept dropping open. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a scholar (student) at Oxford or even to be a Fellow (a professor). Oxford University was established over 800 years ago and is made up of 39 colleges. Each college is its own separate entity and they are spread throughout the town. We visited several colleges including one of the largest colleges, Christ Church. A part of Christ Church is the famous hall where the Harry Potter dining scenes were filmed. Sadly, we only spent an hour and a half in Oxford. One of these days, I would like to take a class there and spend the entire summer in a place where even the stones seem to bleed knowledge (a mixed metaphor?).

We were now on our trek to London or should I say the outskirts of London. Once again our coach overheated and broke down and once again we were thoroughly entertained by the dancing angels. This time we were experiencing a time crunch because we were scheduled for a trip on the London Eye. So, we eventually arrived in our new hotel, The Premier Inn Enfield. The word premier has the connotation of excellence and top notch. The hotel did not reflect that connotation. The only thing I liked about it was that we had a close encounter with some Olympic athletes from China. I guess their government is still paying off the Beijing games, because the hotel was definitely budget. The accommodations themselves were lacking, but it was the epic hike to London that made the hotel even more unbearable.

So, our coach crawled up to the hotel and since we were late, we unloaded our suitcases into the hotel’s suitcase holding room and began our race to the train station. Emilia set a pace that was appropriate for a twenty-something, so us forty and fifty somethings were huffing and puffing. After a twenty minute sprint to the Enfield Loch train station we boarded the train for a fifteen minute ride to make a connection at the London underground and the Tottenham Hale Tube Station where we got off and transferred to a different tube line to end up at the Embankment Station and the River Thames. Over the next forty-eight hours I felt like an experienced Londoner with the walking, train riding, and tube riding. I was also utterly exhausted, and I possessed impressive “cankles.” Approximately one hour later we were boarding our capsule on the London Eye. Each of the 32 capsules on the 443 foot tall Ferris wheel holds 25 people. I do not like heights which seems contradictory, but the capsules are very sturdy, they move slowly, and they are completely enclosed and air conditioned. The view was breathtaking! What an amazing introduction to London. For one thing, we could look up river and down river and see all the bridges. Suspended from one bridge were the Olympic rings. Parliament and Big Ben were prominent landmarks on the Thames. St. Peter’s cathedral and several modern buildings were also monolithic sights. We climbed aboard the Eye just before dusk, so we were treated to a soft golden glow and by the end the city and building lights were sparkling. Breathtaking!

 Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Gardens

 Stratford

 Shakespeare's Birthplace

 Oxford

 The London Underground AKA The Tube

 The London Eye

 The Houses of Parliament

 The River Thames

 The Shard

After our ½ hour revolution around the Eye, we strolled along the Thames searching for substance.  By this time the city was lit up in all its splendor. After finding some food (I had yogurt and fruit) we strolled across a bridge over the River Thames. We then limped back to the tube to reverse our trip to the Inferior, oh, no, the Premier Inn. What a day!