Walking in Shakespeare's Footsteps

Hello, once again, and welcome back to my thrilling blog! I've got some great, educational stuff to say about the tour I attended on Friday, so pay attention.

Michelle and I were the only ones on the tour from the program...it was about a group of ten people this time compared to the forty-nine on our last tour. Our day started out at Oxford. I did not realize this, but there are 39 colleges at Oxford each with their own dining hall, library, quad, and chapel. The area each college has is small, but it is gorgeous. Apparently, the students at Oxford do not attend lectures, they are tutored for all their courses one-on-one with professors. It sounds impossible because there are 15,000 students combined at the 39 schools. The town has some amazing architecture, and looked like it would be a great place to live.

The college that we had admission to was Christ Church College. It was founded by Cardinal Wolsey, the man who would not acknowledge King Henry VIII's "invalid" marriage to his first wife. Wolsey named it Cardinal College, but after he died, Henry renamed it Christ Church. For those of you who have watched the first two Harry Potter films...this is the college that some of the hallway scenes were filmed in. Probably the most recognizable one would be when Harry is outside the Great Hall in the first film...he meets Malfoy and McGonagall in the scene. I stood in that spot (first picture above)! Also, the Great Hall for the film is based off of the dining hall at Christ Church. I believe some of it was filmed in there as well, but with heavy CGI later.

After a very brief visit to the beautiful city of Oxford, we drove through Cotswolds...we didn't get to stop, but the stone in the area is amazing! Really old, and a great countryside, although I missed a lot of it because I was sleeping. Our next destination was Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of the immortal bard, Shakespeare. While driving into the town, I did get to see Trinity Church where Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, are buried. Unfortunately, it was a bit too far out to walk there from the birthplace. But, here is what is inscribed on his tomb stone, written by Shakespeare:

"Good friend for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blest be the man who spares these stones,
And curst be he who moves my bones."

His bones have never been touched, even though there were many people who thought he should reside elsewhere. The birthplace was actually quite interesting. It is the original house with few alterations over the years. One of the rooms has the original floor...literally, I walked in Shakespeare's footsteps! It was very touristy. There were no pictures allowed in the house which was disappointing. Fun fact: there are books that contain most of Shakespeare's famous works compiled shortly after his death. Without these books, we would not have his great work today...I have seen two! They are very rare, barely in existence, but there was one at the birthplace and one at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

From Stratford, we traveled a short distance to Warwick Castle (pronounced War-ick). A little background is needed to understand some of the changes made to the castle. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068; the Mound which was built by him still stands. It was used as a fortification for some time, but it eventually became the home to the Earls of Warwick. The Greville family have been the Earls of Warwick since 1759 and still are today. Although, it is no longer a residence because it was purchased from the family by The Tussauds Group in 1978. Famous for their wax figures, Tussauds turned it into a tourist attraction. They put the castle through massive restorations, and now it is named as one of the top ten castles in the UK.

It was a little on the corny side, but the wax figures were amazing! When you walk through the Kingmaker exhibit (named after Earl Richard "Kingmaker" Neville), you find Kingmaker preparing his troops for battle. You actually smell the horses and the swords in a burning fire. Even though the figures do not move, you feel very connected to the scene. Again, back to my geeky history side, there were wax figures of Henry VIII and his six wives! I took a picture with Henry VIII. I thought it was great, and they looked so similar to their portraits, right down to the 'B' necklace that Anne Boleyn is seen wearing in almost every portrait.

The people dressed up outside was a little tacky, but it was all in good fun. The grounds are large and has the largest trebuchet in the world. It is around 59 feet tall, and it is still used from time to time. The castle sits on the River Avon which made for some spectacular views. The tallest tower there was not fun to climb. It was about 520 steps to the top which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when you are in a cramped spiral stair case with no windows...it was a bit creepy. I have a video of Michelle and I walking down the stairs which was almost worse than walking up...it is a bit boring, but a bit entertaining at the same time. The video is at the bottom. Pointless fluff...lots of silliness.

Overall, it was a relaxing day...much less rushed than our last tour, and we got home by seven. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I visited all of those places. Hopefully, I can book another tour through that company because both have been worth the money so far. Now, it's nap time! Then, tonight I am going out with Cailtin and Maggie! Cheers!