Bye-Bye London, Hello Stratford (Upon Avon)

Stratford Upon Avon is vastly different from London in a multitude of ways. It is a much smaller, countryside town that has a variety of food options and overall feels clean. I feel comfortable when I walk the streets, and I feel happy to be outside of the big city. If there is one thing I learned, it is that I am not a city boy. Although Europe has not been my friend, Stratford Upon Avon is the first time I have trusted this country. It doesn’t want to hurt me like London did, but it isn’t annoyingly kind either. It is the perfect blend of realistic and fantastical. To be able to explore the hometown of Shakespeare has been a very information filled adventure. I have seen so many parts of the great bard’s life that add so much depth to his upbringing and even to the plays he has written. His birthplace was disgustingly claustrophobic, and the town of Avon wasn’t the most inspiring place to be writing. Seeing the world that surrounded Shakespeare gives a lot of necessary detail to the sometimes vague worlds he can create. It was also very interesting to me to see how normal of a family he grew up with. His father, John, was a simple glove maker within the town, and Shakespeare grew up sharing the house with his 8 siblings. Shakespeare’s first step towards stardom was when his father passed and left the house in William’s name, so he turned it into an Inn and became relatively wealthy. Along with that, he both bought and rented out a theatre, so he had both the time and money to write. The worst part of this weekend was the bus trip we took to get here, but I can only imagine how bad it was for Shakespeare to get in and out of this town. RIP.