The next day we woke up and had an amazing full English breakfast made by Lyn and Emmet at the Royalyn Guest house B&B we stayed at. Eggs, Roasted Tomatoes, Baked Beans, Sausage, Ham, Mushrooms, Toast, Hot Chocolate, Marmalade, Marmite, and all we could eat! After rolling ourselves out of the dining rooms we all met the group and took a 20 minute walk through one of the most quaint and beautiful places I've ever been in my life. We ended up at the Hathaway cottage. (The home of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife.) Doesn't it look like something from Disneyland? It stayed in the family for centuries until the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust bought it to conserve it. It still has original pieces of furniture, flooring, and the grounds are still a gorgeous garden. My favorite part of course was the gardens, full of statues and tributes to Shakespeare's plays. I took some time out of our tour and visit to sit in the grounds and read some sonnets. I'm so grateful to be here with such an amazing group of students that I have become such great friends with. It has been such a great time! this is the one group shot we got. And it's quite epic! After that we headed back to town, saw Hall's Croft (the house of Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law Dr. John Hall) Then we were set loose on the town. I found a place to sit on the bridge over the Avon, watching people in the boats and barges, the swans searching for stray pieces of bread, listened to someone playing the spanish guitar, and ate my fish & chips. I love moments like that. I found my way up in the tower of the RSC theater, where you can see all over Warwickshire County. It is also the home of J.R.R. Tolkien and if you look out into the hills and fields, it looks just like the shire. Someday...I'll work here. And get paychecks with that logo on it. I then had some Indian food, met up with the group, and saw the most phenomenal production of Macbeth I've ever been privileged to see. I am constantly in awe of the quality of theater I have been blessed to see. I've only seen one production where I was disappointed. After the show I made my way outside, Looking over the avon, and was just in awe that I'm here experiencing these things, and said a prayer of thanks. (I find myself doing that a lot lately.) I knew I'd be sad to leave Stratford.
