Shakespeare's Birthday

I had to drag myself out of bed for this day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare's birthday and also to celebrate his birthday. Well, he's supposed to be celebrating his 446th birthday anniversay.

We arrived just in time to catch the visitor's procession at Henley Street.

From Belly dancers, drums, scouts to gigantic fairies. The parade was really colourful and there were so many people. They will be walking towards the Holy Trinity Church where his grave lies and place flowers on it.

Trying to find a spot

Finally, they opened the roads after the end of the procession.

Street artist dressed as William Shakespeare.

The house where he was born and raised in.

Will I be more literature inclined after visiting his home? Hmmmm. We saw the bedroom where his mother gave birth to him, his father's glove workshop, the very living room where he spent his childhood playing. I liked the unique architecture of the buildings which looked like they've sprung out of story books.

Modern art

The one and only William Shakespeare.

This was the kitchen of his house. I was amazed by how real the duck on the table looked.

Not only was the house beautiful, the garden around it was in full bloom too.

Walking towards New Place

A bust of Shakespeare

The New Place was Shakespeare's last home before he died in 1616. The house was the second biggest building in Stratford at that time and was the only one made from bricks.

Hall's Croft - This house belonged to Shakespeare's eldest daughter, Susanna, where she stayed with her husband, who was a famous physician. He even published a few medical books.

Imagine having tea in the past wearing all that elegant long dresses and hats.

We were so lucky to be able to get this group photo with the actors and actresses.

Unexpectedly, they suddenly rushed into the garden reciting 'To be or not to be, that is the question.' I couldn't really understand the traditional English but enjoyed myself nevertheless.

Sunny day, beautiful gardens, good company. What more can I ask for?

Group picture thanks to A's tripod.

Picture outside Hall's Croft.

The Holy Trinity Church.

I didn't have time to go in and there was a queue and a fee of 50p to visit his grave. Photo taken from here.

Brass Rubbing Centre - you can start rubbing colours onto a piece of paper positioned on the patterned brass for a small fee. Reminded me so much of the sort of things I use to do at museums when I was younger.

River Avon

I think the swans look delicious to some.

Live performances

Does this remind you of Amsterdam?

This old chain ferry was so unique. Everyone will get on and the conductor will start turning the metal wheel on the side and the whole boat will move. Interesting.

Relaxing in the gardens

Metal waterfall of swans

A beautiful poster of performers

Statues of prominent characters from play and William Shakespeare himself.

Finally, this is the end of my reflection week. I was really tired by the end of it and was happy to start my hibernation. I hope that you've enjoyed reading my entries. Take care and good luck to all that are preparing for exams.

Next up: Food, food and more food. Hahahaha.

Road Trip Through Pictures - Last Day: St Ives, Sennen Cove, Land's End, Minack beach, Penzance, Glastonbury, Cheddar

The last day turned out to be a really hectic day. Not only were we going to the most West point in the UK, we had to make our way back to Liverpool.

St Ives

We started our morning with good traditional Cornish Pasty from Cornwall. Bought them from this really old looking bakery near our hotel. It is something like the curry puff back home but filled with beef and potatoes minus the spiciness. Overall, it's not as nice as we'd expected, the pastry was thick and the fillings little. Maybe we have yet to come across the true Cornish Pasty.

The beach in the morning was really beautiful. Too bad we didn't have more time to stay.

What will we do without S? We somehow got stuck in this really narrow alley with a lorry parked in the middle of it too. Luckily, the driver appeared after a while and moved his vehicle. Imagine reversing all the way back.

Sennen Cove

A really beautiful cove on the way to Land's End. I love the colour of the sea. If I remember correctly, the number of phytoplankton affects how green the sea looks. If you're interested to know more, please visit this link.

Of course, being good students, we remembered to do our reflections.

Land's End

Finally, we're at the most West point of UK. There is no entrance fee but we were charged a parking fee of 3 pounds for the whole day.

There are a lot of attractions for kids here, from 4D movies to Doctor Who screenings.

I watched this exhibition on how one made the drive from John O Groats (Scotland) to Land's End (Cornwall) at 6000mph, so the whole journey was completed within 15 minutes. It's still impossible in real life, but we can still fast forward the whole video clip to achieve that speed. How easy traveling will be if we could travel at the speed of light.

The famous sign post

This was where my poor camera tumbled down the rocks due to the strong winds sustaining permanent bruises. Luckily you survived, if not, I'll be so heartbroken. At least we got a good group picture.

First postbox in the UK

Beautiful views of the sea

Minack Theatre and beach

Too bad there wasn't a play when we were there. We decided to just visit the beach and see if we could catch a glimpse of the theatre from there.

On our way down the steep clifts

At least there were some man-made steps

Our destination

Look how steep it was.

The sea!

The water was still freezing cold but that didn't stop us from having fun.

Relaxing on the beach. This is the life.

Putting my shoes back on. I chose quite a dangerous place to wear my shoes as the tide came all the way past this rock. I had to get my timing right or end up with wet feet and shoes.

Group photo

The path less taken. It was really steep and scary but worth it.

My masterpiece

Penzance

We had our afternoon tea at Honey Pot, a cute little cafe which we passed.

Scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. It was so delicious. The practice of putting the jam or cream first differs in Devon and Cornwall. I'm not sure which is which but I don't think that will affect the taste that much.

The many types of scones and cakes

There were so many types of tea to choose from but we settled for Darjeeling and Lady Grey. Recommended to try without any sugar and milk first as the taste changes after adding them.

Where can I find clotted cream? I miss it so much. It had a mild tinge of sweetness with a texture similar to fresh cream but thicker. Will I return to Cornwall one day?

St Michael's Mount - the magical castle on an island. When the tide is high, we had to get a boat to the castle but in the evenings when the tide is low, we could walk all the way back to mainland. Too bad time didn't allow us to visit.

The path appears at sunset. How magical is that. Click on the photo to go to the original page where I got it from to find out more.

Glastonbury

We were supposed to have our dinner at Rainbows End Cafe but we were too late.

Glastonbury Tor - the land of fairies. It is said that if a rainbow appears over the Tor, someone has seen the Holy grail. It is believed to be the burial site for King Arthur too.

If you walk around St Michael's Tower 3 times, you'll be granted a wish.

St Michael's Tower

The amazing panaromic views

Looking into the distance

Cheddar

Cheddar Gorge - I saw a few people rock climbing on the way.

Small stream

Tuckers Fish and Chips - we were starving by the time we got there. I had cod, haddock, calamari rings, scampi and white fish. It was delicious but I think I had a bit of an overdose.

The end of our 1000 miles road trip. It's such an accomplishment covering so many places, over that distance, all in 3.5 days. Good job people.

Hope that you've enjoyed reading as much as I did blogging about it. Is this the end of my reflection week? Well.....no.

Next up: Shakespeare's Birthday