pints, castles and shakespeare

1. What I see when I look out my room window
2. The Marquis, a local pub

3. Camden Lock
4. Jewellery at Camden
5. Falafel
6. Westminster Abbey

7. First pint in England

On Friday morning I woke up pretty early and wandered to the little bakery up the road to get breakfast. I ordered some fresh made croissants and ate one while wandering around Old Harlow. It has been hot and sunny every single day since we got here; at this point my umbrella is just wasted space in my purse.

After my criossant adventure me and a few of my friends went into London for the day, to Camden Lock market. Holy crap. You guys. I've never seen such a massive market. It's never ending. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of magic maze made up of rings and tshirts and food and hookah. We wandered through the stalls for ages and ages, stopped for lunch (falafel!) and then wandered some more.

Then we took the train to Picadilly Circus and sat on the steps of the statue of Eros for a minute for a break. Picadilly Circus is like a mini Times Square in London with giant screens on the buildings.

Following an adventure through the park including a big swan who ignored us and a detour in front of Westminster Abbey (I would like to get married there, future husband of mine), we ended up back at the riverbank again drinking pints in front of the London Eye and Big Ben. Not a big deal, or anything. Thanks to Uncle Wayne, Aunt Carolyn and Mr and Mrs Anderson who supplied the pounds for my first pints in England!

1. Warwick Castle in the fog
2. The Great Hall

3. View from the tower
4. Cauliflower Soup and doorstop bread
5. Much Ado About Nothing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Saturday was our field trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. We had a singalong on the bus of all our songs from the play. Needless to say my voice at 8am in the morning after a few pints sounded like angels singing. My prof, who is also our director, sat next to me during this singalong. Your welcome, Jamie, for that beautiful melody. A solo may be in order.

Before Stratford we went to Warwick Castle in Warwickshire. It's apparently the most well preserved castle in England! It was amazing there, massive grounds and grand rooms. There was lots of touristy stuff too, of course, and we were a little disappointed that the Princess Tower was only for 5-8 year olds. But we watched a trebuchet being fired and a bird show with bald eagles and owls! It was a good afternoon, minus the fact that I wore jeans and was practically cremating on top of Bishop's Tower.

We went to our hostel after a few hours at the castle. My first ever hostel! It was pretty nice, huge grounds and our room had a massive window overlooking the front yard. We had dinner at a local pub (I had a pint of cider and cauliflower soup with "doorstop bread") and then went to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Courtyard Theatre to see Much Ado About Nothing. It was this production and it was unbelievable. The music, the costumes and the dancing were unreal. I must say it was slightly better than Carnesky's Tarot Drome (plus I never got kicked in the face!).

1. Shakespeare's birthplace
2. English cream tea and scones
3. Tea with friends
4. Henley Street Tea Room

5. Woven bunny in Anne Hathaway's garden
6. Curly plants

Yesterday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hostel, and then went into Stratford for the day to explore. Me, Emily and Kim went to Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's Cottage (The Anne Hathaway who was Shakespeare's wife, not Mia Thermopolis in Princess Diaries). Not a big deal. Just two places where Shakespeare stood. I may have nerded out a bit. The cottages were in such well kept conditions; Shakespeare's birthplace had the original stone floors in the main room and Anne Hathaway's cottage had a seat that she and Shakespeare likely sat in when he came to visit her. What. The gardens at Anne Hathaway's cottage were stunning, and there was a summer festival going on there so there was a choir, and a play and locals selling crafts and quilts and things all throughout the gardens.

After we visited Shakespeare's birthplace we took the advice of an old English gentleman I spoke to on the bus and had English cream tea and scones across from Shakespeare's house. I could possibly live on that for the rest of my life.

Finally, we went to see Twelfth Night at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It was another amazing production; Malvolio stole the show and let me just tell you Sebastian was most certainly not hard on the eyes. Ahem.

I was going to write about my day today but basically I went shopping and we had our first read through of the play (more on that later). Since this is now a short novel, I'll leave it here. Until next time!