Shakespeare's Stratford-Upon-Avon

Roadtrip!  My Mom has been in town, and our first adventure was to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, less than two hours via train through the English countryside Northwest of London.


Well-preserved English towns are a delight with their black and white timbered inns, stone cathedrals, and bubbling streams full of swans.  We spent the day admiring fresh vegetables and plants at the farmer's market, weaving through the quaint streets browsing shops, lunch at the pub, and a stroll along the waterfront.


Stratford (upon the Avon river) is best known today as the birthplace of William Shakespeare, and several of his family homes are still in good condition throughout town.  Though Shakespeare left Stratford to live in London for the majority of his adult life, he was baptised and buried at the alter of the Stratford church surrounded by towering, jewel-toned windows.

I do not claim to be an aficionado of Shakespeare, nor even capable of naming more than five of his plays (hmm, let's see ... Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, MacBeth ... drawing a blank ... wait, Othello ... Midsommer Night's Dream ... ).  

However, I do concur that he is deserving of the title "Best Playwright of All Time", enjoyed the plays of his I did read/see, and concluded he was worthy of buying a stuffed Christmas tree ornament in his likeness as a souvenir.

Though one of the most well known, I leave you with one of my favourite Shakespearean quotes (aside of course from "Et tu Brute?" ... ooh, one more ... Julius Caesar ! )

"This above all,—to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
~ Mel Gibson, 1990