I woke up this morning from the best sleep I have had on the whole trip so far. I got to sleep in a double bed with 3 pillows so I was well rested for our long day filled with walking and traveling. First thing, was to meet in the hotel lobby with our tour guide who was giving us a Shakespeare themed tour of Stratford. We walked down to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which was surrounded by beautiful parks and right by the river Avon. Everyone was out with their dogs today so I was extra happy about seeing all of the cute pups walking about. It was a beautiful day with decently warm weather and sunshine. I took lots of photos and videos throughout the day.
The tour guide walked us all over the town until we got to Shakespeare’s birthplace. We went inside and watched an 8-minute introduction video of Shakespeare’s life. Then we went out into the garden’s which were filled with blooming flowers and pretty plants. When we walked into the actual house I was told that I wasn’t allowed to take any video, but it seemed like most of the older houses that I’ve seen in Williamsburg, VA (they just didn’t belong to Shakespeare). In the courtyard outside of the house, they had character’s performing segments of the plays. Around the bend was the gift shop that was filled with so many cool souvenirs and me ended up getting my sister a few things from there.
After Shakespeare’s birthplace, we got a small bite to eat and I found a little bakery where I got an incredible sausage roll. I have been waiting for this whole trip to have an English sausage roll and it was so flaky and delicious. I walked around some of the shops in Stratford, but I ended up having the most luck at the vendors market.
I found one tent that had all of these enamel pins one of Elvis Presley, one of the Motown Logo, an Abby Road sign, and an Irish beer glass for my sister. Then in another tent, I found a vintage silver ring from the 50s for 12 pounds. That is when I realized that I had forgotten my credit card in the bakery, and had a slight panic attack. Luckily, I called David who was still over there and he was able to find it for me.
We all went back to the hotel to meet so we could board our bus to Liverpool. The drive was around 2 hours but we stopped in between for a bathroom break. When we got to Liverpool, the sun was still shining but it was a bit chilly. We got checked into our rooms and then headed out on a 30 min walk to where we were having dinner. It was a Greek restaurant named Grilla that took forever to give us our food. We had a few appetizers and lamb, chicken, ham, and fries for dinner which was finished with a lemon cake. We finally left the restaurant around 10 and walked back to the hotel when it was starting to get really cold out. Tomorrow we have a free morning before our Beatles tour and then I and a few others will be going to Junkyard Golf for a mini-golf tournament!
