We decided to take advantage of the 3 days to do some exploring around England. We wanted to do day trips by car, even though gas is terribly expensive. So we settled upon two locations: Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare's home) and Stonehenge.
Stratford Upon Avon was a neat little town - 2 hour drive away. Part of it was very modern, with restaurants and stores, but there was one street that was like going back in time.
Even the street performer painted silver and standing like a statue added to the ambiance.
We went to Shakespeare's home, where he grew up. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father was a glover (he made gloves...). We could not take pictures inside, but I have some of the outside and the gardens.
His house:
Apparently, this was typical of a house that any wealthy merchants lived in. It was quite spacious on the inside. The best part was the section where William's father ran his business. Since he made gloves from leather, there was a large hall where horse and carts could pull in and dump all the dead animals, in various stages of decomposition. I thought it was very nice for the tour guide to give us such a graphic description of the glove business. Moving on...
The gardens were my favorite. They were small, but so many types of flowers!
Silly tourists....
As you can see, the weekend was gloomy. It rained the majority of the time and the temp was about 40 degrees. Brrr, why didn't I bring my winter coat?? Oh yeah, I remember, because IT IS MAY!!!!
On to Stonehenge, a quick 1.5 hour drive via the motorways.... We drive due west of London and after a series of roundabouts and small highways, we pop over a hill and there it is! Just like you see in books!!
It was really neat, but you could not actually walk up to the stones. We had to stay outside a perimeter chain. But we could walk all around it. So we did.
Surrounding land. Look! Sheep! Baaaaaa
Mandy and I freezing our butts off.
Very cool trip. It was worth the 3 hour drive in the rain. The forecast said it was not raining at Stonehenge and about 2 miles outside of this site - it stopped raining! I will never understand this weather....
4 comments:
Hey Lori, We made it back from Florida, Monday night late after attending a very pretty wedding and a "cool" reception. Beth was a big hit with a lot of our family, who had not seen her since she was little. We also had a nice visit with her on Sunday.
One bit of bad news to tell. Uncle Bob had a massive heart attack on the way home from Orlando Sunday. He had been driving and complain that he was not feeling well. He pulled to the side of the interstate to let Aunt Bev drive and before he could get back in the car he passed out in the grass. He was still alive last night and we haven't heard anything today, so we are hoping no news is good news. It dosen't look good for him though. Keep him and the family in your prayers.
I am glad you are have fun and mastering the art of driving in England. You have more courage than I would. But I guess you do what you have to do to get the job done. I hope your work is going well.
Love Dad
It looks cold there...it is 79 and sunny today (like every other day).
By the way, were you on the Delta flight from Atlanta to Paris on May 12th??? with the buy who has TB...maybe you should get tested...lol
Shahespeares house looks like something you would see in holland. Where are the people with wooden shoes?
love
B
Hey Lori,
I also wanted to say I have a bulldozer to push up those big rocks so those sheep have more room to graze.
later,
B
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