hello shakespeare.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.

-William Shakespeare

How often do we put on a face because that is what we are supposed to be? Doesnt Shakespeare just hit it on the nose with this quote. Just thought provoking.

Today was a day filled with Shakespeare. but what can you expect when you are in Stratford-upon-Avon.

It started with a delicious traditional English Breakfast at our B&B. This consists of an egg, tomato, mushroom, bacon, and sausage. it was grand. except i only ate half of mine,, but they also had yummy yummy toast.

cali enjoying her english breakfast.

we then made our way down the canal to Shakespeare's birthplace. the canal was beautiful, filled with locks/levies, trees, and long skinny boats. it was close to a 25 minute walk- walking fast. but we eventually made it. the birthplace reminded me a little of disney world in the beginning because you went through an exhibit with automatic doors and videos. it was crazy and amazing. the house itself was interesting and cool to look at, but the same as yesterday wasnt the most inspiring thing of my life. but afterwards we were sitting in the courtyard when some shakespeare actors came and performed a few scenes. as luck would have it both were from shows we have seen or were going to see. they did a scene from much ado and then macbeth.

a little shakespeare at the birthplace.

cali is in love. good thing shakespeare has lots of quotes on love.

i found this eraser i loved. loved. loved. was it worth 50 p to me? no. so i didnt get it, but i think the pictures will make me just as happening as owning it.

this is why i loved it so much. so funny. plus we were seeing macbeth that night. perfection. 

 then we were off to new place and nash house. shakespeare's final home, and his granddaughter's house. ps my claim to fame. shakespeare's graddaughter's name (before she got married) was none other than Elizabeth Hall. woowhoo. the whole group was kind of warn out from touring the whole day yesterday so we all made our way back to a green field for a nap.

amber and cali in pretty gardens.

so im seven. or five. while we were sitting/laying there i liked playing with the grass. so what do you do when you pull grass out of the ground?

make a bouquet using cali's foot. its true. im seven.

it was the nap time for everyone. while it wasnt a fall asleep, well rested nap- it was so so nice.

after new place we were off to hall's croft. another house. not too exciting. and then to trinity church to see shakespeare's grave. unfortunately there was recital going on at the church when we went so we couldnt go in right then. so we were free for the rest of the day until the show that night. so we wandered through stratford...

elly saw this old fashioned candy store on the way to new place. we obviously had to stop by.

who needs lunch when you can get milkshakes at moo-moos?

so delicious. did my stomach hate me afterwards? you bet.

cali, elly, and i then made the trek back to the b&b. cali had left her ticket, and we wanted an actual nap. best nap ever. the best were amazing. it was so hard to wake up, but we didnt want to sleep our day away. so back down the canal we went for more exploration, seeing trinity church, din din, and the show.

this reminds me of my padre when i complain about being short. youre not short. youre fun sized he replies. well padre- they make a shirt for it. crazy day!

outside trinity church where shakespeare's grave was. the grave was inside. it was fun to see, and there was a bust above the grave which is supposed to be the most correct bust of him. we then just took a moment to look around the rest of the graveyard. i kind of love old graveyards.

 elly and i while waiting for cali in the bathroom. call out an emotion. take the picture. here are. sad. excited. disgusted. we are good at entertaining ourselves.

walking along the avon. there were row boats (we didnt do it) but one was named Ophelia- ironic? yes.

 dinner at the garrick inn. so grand. it was scrumptious.

then off to see macbeth.

the show was much better than the night before. acting style. however it was incredibly gruesome. the decision was if a movie it would have been rated "R" for the amount of blood. there was one point were you see macduff's children get killed, and that part was just too much. i realized during the second half i started to check out because i couldnt handle it anymore. instead of thinking about the killing going on onstage i was thinking about efy. but the show was incredibly done. just too much for me personally. it was interesting though to see a lot of the same actors from the night before. it is amazing how much better they were with the more traditional concept. i think it was just the over arching vegas theme of merchant that made it tank.

after the show it was taxi to home again. our taxi driver was the greatest. first the taxi was werid and extemely tall. our driver lived in stratford but didnt like shakespeare. and he had worked as a guard at buckingham. he was very good at not smiling.

that night we were in such a mood. aka giggly. pillow fights ensued. as well as turning lights off on people while in the bathroom. sorry elly. but it made for a very fun little bit.

i ended the night studying 1 john 4. it was perfect, and very insightful on love- which then provoked a great conversation with cali. probably one of my favorite things. and then it was off to bed.