Stratford-upon-Avon

Sorry it's been so long! We went to Stratford-upon-Avon this week to visit all of the Shakespeare sites. Last weekend was pretty chill though. I got some homework done, watched some movies, and just rested so I was ready for our trip. Monday we had class and then we went shopping. We all kind of got separated so I went out to Leicester Square to see if I could get in to a show but the one I wanted to go to was sold out. So I ended up just walking around and hanging out in Leicester Square. It was great! Then I came home and Abby wanted gelato so we went over to Gelato Mio and got some yummy gelato :) Then bright and early Tuesday morning we left for Stratford-upon-Avon!!

Tuesday:
     First of all our bus driver was half an hour late picking us up so we were all a little frustrated. Then we were supposed to stop at the Cotswolds on the way and he never turned off to go there. So we ended up in Stratford a little earlier than we expected. We walked around a tourist information center for a little bit and then headed to our Bed and Breakfasts to check in. There are a lot of us so we were split into smaller groups and sent to three different Bed and Breakfasts. They were so cute! We had some time before our tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theater so we just chilled in our room. Then we walked down to the theater for our tour. It was really cool! We got to walk around back stage and see the costume, make up, and wig rooms. It was really fun and really cool. Then we went to a cute little pub called the Windmill Inn for dinner. I had a delicious burger! It was so yummy :) After dinner we went over to the theater to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Caesar. I was really excited about it because it's one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and  they chose to have it set in South Africa which I thought was going to be amazing. However, it wasn't that great. The actors who played Antony and Brutus were amazing but the way they executed the concept just didn't work for me. It felt inconsistent and it was actually quite boring. It wasn't my favorite performance I've seen but it was a good experience. After the play we all walked home and got some much needed sleep :)

Wednesday:
     We got up bright and early so we could see a lot. I had a full English breakfast and I loved it! Baked beans for breakfast?? Genius! It was so good :) Then we got on the bus and went out to Mary Arden's farm. It was beautiful! There were flowers everywhere and they still use it as a functioning farm today! It was so cool. We saw pigs, ducks, geese, chickens, a rooster, and a horse! It was so fun. We also got to watch a little falconry show with some owls. I loved it there! Then we went over to Anne Hathaway's cottage. The garden was beautiful and the house was really small on the inside but cool to look around in. The lady that talked to us about Anne and Shakespeare was really funny and very charismatic. She was awesome! I bought a mini book of Much Ado About Nothing at the bookshop and it is so cute! I had a lot of fun looking around in the shops. After that we went to the other Shakespeare houses in town and they all started to look alike so I don't remember a lot about them. The last thing we saw was the church where Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway are buried. It was a beautiful church and it was cool to see their graves. Then me and Meghan went over to another pub for dinner. It was called the Garrick Inn and it was super cute and quaint and the food was delicious. I got some chicken and french fries and vegetables. Yum :) Then we got some Starbucks and sat by the river while we waited for the doors to open for the play. We saw Richard III and it was great! I absolutely loved it. They kind of changed it a little so it was really funny at parts. I enjoyed it a lot and thought they did a great job. Then we went back to our cute little B & B's to catch some Z's...

Thursday:
     We got up early, I had another full English breakfast (delicious!), and we headed out to the Cotswolds. Because we missed seeing it on the way to Stratford we drove through on our way back. It was adorable. All the little houses with thatched roofs were so cute! We stopped for a few minutes at a tower thing and we could see for miles because we were so high up. The countryside was gorgeous! I wish we could have taken more trips out to the countryside because I loved it! Then we drove to Oxford and spent a couple hours walking around. We went over and saw Christ's Church College but the great hall was closed during the hours that we were there. We didn't have ton of time either so we didn't go inside. We went and found the Alice and Wonderland store and looked around in there. It was super cute. I also bought an Oxford sweatshirt which I love! It is super soft and comfy :) Then we walked around and got some food and while we were walking down the street we saw Oxford's boy a cappella group performing to promote their concert coming up. They were so great! It was awesome! Then we got back on the bus and came back to London. We got back just in time to run over to Leicester Square for the Prometheus premier!! We ended up on a bad side though so none of the stars came over by us but we got to see them arrive and take pictures and everything. It was cool. We went to the back door so we could see if any of the actors were going to leave through there. We didn't see any of them leave but we did get lucky and we saw Danny from the Script leaving so I got his autograph. Then someone told us to go to the hotel they were all staying at and we would have a good chance of meeting them there. So we found our way to the hotel. We waited for quite a while but it was worth it because we ended up being able to meet Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, and Guy Pearce. They were all really nice and Logan even told me to keep studying theater :) It was so much fun! Haha, gotta love stalking celebrities :)

Friday:
     I got some much needed sleep after our trip to Stratford and our late night stalking the Prometheus cast. Haha, then me and Meghan went out to Camden Market since I hadn't been there yet. It was great! I absolutely loved it! It's super hippy and chill and so much fun! We got Bang Bang Chicken for lunch and it was delicious! Thanks for the recommendation Aylea! Then we went over to Leicester Square because we really wanted to go see a movie. We decided to see Snow White and the Huntsman and it was a great choice! I loved it! Yes, Kristin Stewart can't act but the great performances by the other actors were enough to outway her performance. The soundtrack is great, too! And while we were watching the credits it said that they filmed a lot of it at the Lake District here in the UK. So cool! After the movie we walked around Leicester Square and got some starbucks for dinner. Then we headed over to the theater for Comedy of Errors. It was awful. They played up some of the darker sides of the play but then tried to be funny so it made it really weird. I didn't like it at all.

Here are some pictures!