Stratford-upon-Avon

Saturday, September 13th
I got the best sleep I’ve had in a while, albeit for only 7 hours. It was so nice to sleep in a full bed with nice sheets and no loud sirens or motorcycles flying by the window all night. Actually this whole trip was a real pleasant break from the city life and constantly being bombarded with everything. The English countryside is beautiful and I’d like to see much more of it in the coming months.
I went downstairs for breakfast and had the privilege of eating a full English breakfast (which was really amazing) next to an older couple that apparently didn’t feel like being sociable at all (which was really awkward). I guess that’s what I get for signing up late and having to stay at a B&B by myself. Then I packed up my things and said “Thank You” to the owner (who is a rather awkward guy himself…he must be extra awkward if I’m the one saying he’s awkward…woof). We made our way to the Trinity Church (where Shakespeare and his family are buried) and listened to a 45-minute lecture by Dr. Tim Kidd all about Shakespeare’s life in Stratford. The church is right on the Avon and it was so beautiful and peaceful that I felt like staying there forever. After that we walked around town for a few hours, hitting up book shops (where this one guy called me an @$$hole for trying to walk by him as he was looking at books…awesome class), the farmer’s market (where I bought a “leather” belt for 5 pounds) and a pub for lunch (lunch for 2 people for just 5 pounds!). Then we loaded onto the bus and made our way to Oxford.
We only had two hours to explore Oxford and I think we made the most of it. Oxford University is made up of a ton of small colleges situated around town and we saw a few of them (one dining hall that looked exactly like Hogwarts). We also saw part of the botanical gardens, a 5-story bookshop, an indoor market with everything from jewelry to t-shirts to a butcher shop, among other stuff. We loaded up the bus yet again and headed back to London. Once I was back in our flat, the normal noisy annoyance of Edgware Road returned and I realized someone stole my chicken...Eric…


Friday, September 12th
Today we set out for the Stratford/Oxford trip, leaving the Marylebone station at 8:50am. We stopped for the afternoon at Warwick Castle, and it was a bit more touristy than I thought it would be (lame music being played by the “Ghosts Alive” exhibit, etc.). It was still really interesting though as they had a good part of the interior of the castle set up like a party in 1898 with life-like statues in each room depicting events that would commonly take place. I personally liked the tv remote in one of the bedrooms. They also had a bowman (who Laura is deeply in love with, though she won’t admit it…it’s absolutely hilarious the types of jokes you can come up with if you’re talking about a long bowman) and a falconer (the falcon seemed to like the pigeons nesting in a nearby tree).
We then made our way by train to Stratford-upon-Avon and once we were there it started pouring while I wasn’t able to get to my umbrella. Finally the bus came and I could grab my bag and umbrella and make the trek to the bed and breakfast that I was staying in (a few minutes down the road from where everyone else was staying…go me for signing up way late). I got settled into my room, crashed for 20 minutes then went on a walk with Bill, Laura, Erin and Robin to see Shakespeare’s birthplace and some of the town. It was still pouring, but it was fun. Bill bought us all a pint at the Dirty Duck and then we ate dinner with the rest of the crew (Omar, Andrew, Meagan, Seth, Chris and Rebecca). I guess English lasagna is a bit different than what I’m used to because they don’t really use ricotta cheese and there wasn’t much meat in it. Oh well, it was warm food and it filled me up.
Following dinner we made our way down the street to the Courtyard Theatre for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was absolutely hilarious. My seat was right next to the stage (which protruded out like a peninsula into the audience) and that was a bit different than any other theatre experience I’ve had before. The actor who played Bottom single-handedly made the play my favorite production ever (he was so over the top and he even came out playing the sousaphone…that sealed the deal). Everyone else was hilarious too and the play at the end (put on by the simple-minded Athenians) was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
The normal after party takes place at the Dirty Duck, which is exactly where we ran off to once the play ended so we could get our pints and get a table in the corner. It was packed with Ithaca students and just before we left a good number of the actors from the production showed up. It was a good night.


Thursday, September 11th
Today Steve Brown gave a lecture to the British Pop class about jazz (it’s importance, it’s history and what exactly it is). Apparently jazz=ding ding-da ding, and Steve was very adamant about this. He also had Omar and Andrew come up and demonstrate how easy it is to improvise, as long as you don’t play the wrong notes.
Afterwards I got a bit of practicing done then had some fish & chips with Omar, and they were drowning in vinegar which made it that much better (apparently people could smell our meals from 4 floors above). We then set out for Royal Albert Hall and the last Proms performance that we were going to see, which was the Orchestre de Paris performing Mahler 1 with Christoph Eschenbach conducting. We got our normal 5 pound Gallery tickets and found a decent spot to watch the first half (some piece with this lady singing atonal stuff…kinda neat, and I’m sure hard to sing, but it didn’t really move me). During intermission Omar and I made a dash to the lower level (Circle) to try and sneak in after we saw how many open seats there were. We almost made it, and an usher stopped us and asked for our tickets. I almost spilled the beans but Omar saved us saying “Oh, I must have thrown mine in the bin” and I followed with a quick “Yeah, me too…” She said “Well, I don’t remember you guys, but O.K.” Score. We got to see Mahler 1 in Royal Albert Hall sitting in seats that were much more expensive than what we paid for, and it was amazing.