Stratford-upon-Avon, September 2013

Shakespeare's birthplace

I was very curious to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of  Shakespeare, in the Heart of England. I read "Julius Caesar" and "Much Ado About Nothing" when I was in school. Ever since then I have wanted to visit the birthplace of Britain's greatest writer, and see a theatre play of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

I flew to Birmingham and took the train to Stratford. My guest house was lovely. The kind  proprietor gave me some very good tips for the town and the whole region.

After arriving, I walked around the town to get a first impression of it. Stratford is a pretty place that is full of atmosphere, especially because of all the medieval buildings. The pub "The Old Thatch Tavern" was recommended to me, so I had dinner there - I didn't regret it.

In the evening, I watched the comedy "A Mad World My Masters" in the Swan Theatre. It wasn't written by Shakespeare but it was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and was hilarious ;). Additionally, I really liked the way the theatre was furnished.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

The next day, before leaving Stratford, I went to see Shakespeare's birthplace in Henley Street and tried to take a photo of it without any tourists - nearly impossible. I met a woman there who came from Munich, and who was trying to do the same thing. We discovered we were both from Germany and had the same Christian name. A nice surprise :)




We decided to visit Shakespeare's house together, which was great. It was interesting to see how it was furnished and the way people had lived in the 16th century. In the past few years I had seen a lot more 18th and 19th century style housing, but very little from this earlier period.

Holy Trinity Church

We went on to Anne Hathaway's cottage, which was located a little way out of the town centre. It took about 15 minutes by foot and we passed by lots of nice cottages with thatched roofs.
Anne Hathaway's cottage looked just wonderful with its own thatched roof and pretty garden. When we entered the first room, we were given some information about Anne Hathaway and her family, and of course about Shakespeare. There were many small rooms with narrow doors and low ceilings, which made everything look very cosy.

River Avon

We then headed to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was buried, besides other family members of his. It was very touching for both of us to visit his tomb. We stood still for a while. The church was located close to the river Avon - a beautiful area. We walked along the river until we arrived at the  Royal Shakespeare Theatre.



I left in the afternoon and went to Birmingham, where I met my English friend Lynne and stayed with her. I'd have really liked to visit "Hall's Croft" and "Mary Arden's House" but that's on my to-do list for next time. (John Hall was Shakespeare's son-in-law and Mary Arden was his mother).

Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Some days later, we returned to Stratford together to see Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus". I had read before that it's the bloodiest play out of all of Shakespeare's plays and it really unnerved me. I found it difficult to fall asleep afterwards.

No matter what I had read about theatre before, the Royal Shakespeare Company was highly recommended and now I know why. I found both plays very intense, one made me laugh and the other made me shiver.