We wrapped up our trip in the same manner as William Shakespeare back in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Here we were able to visit his childhood home and get a small glimpse into the world he grew up in. Trying to picture such wonderful and extravagant stories coming from such a simple home feels impossible. Anne Hathaway’s cottage was beautiful. I could have lived out in that garden. New Place is no longer standing, but the story of its transformation, reconstruction, and deconstruction was certainly a riveting tale.

The town itself was absolutely adorable. It was a complete switch from the bustling of London. All the little stores and cafes were calling my name. I poked around in a couple of antique and thrift stores on my own. But what good is a thrift without a sweet treat afterwards? I made my way to a little crepe shop and had a delicious strawberry and nutella crepe along with a cappuccino. Later on we visited a cat cafe and met all the Shakespearean cats they had there. I got the pleasure of enjoying cream tea with Nick Bottom. The cat cafe was certainly not the only Shakespearen themed establishment. On every corner there was a Shakepeare themed library, coffee shop, or souvineer store. As quaint as Starford-Upon-Avon was, it was definitely full of its tourists and known for one thing in particular.

Our stop in Oxford on the way was also absolutely wonderful. We all stumbled upon the Oxford pride pirade. Their drumline got me moving! Exploring as much of the campus as I could was so cool. The plants and vines growing on so many of the buildings was beautiful. A few of us went and enjoyed yet another afternoon tea. Of course we picked through anqitue shops, but best of all we had delicious food. I had one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve ever had. It paired so well with the dreary weather as well.

William Shakespeare signing off.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare’s hometown. A peaceful green town filled with swans. This is by far my favorite place we have been to. I sat on the grass, leaning my back on a willow tree & was so grateful to be in Shakespeare’s hometown. While I was strolling along I noticed a couple locals playing with & feeding the swans, it was very wholesome.🌳 I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved this place & enjoyed my time here. Visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace & Anne Hathaway’s Cottage was a magical experience. The guides did an excellent job.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage has a garden overflowing with plants. I love nature so this was a treat. I am deeply inspired to create my own garden. 🪴

Something new I learned on this trip to Stratford-upon-Avon was that Shakespeare was 18 when he got married to Anne Hathaway who was 26 years old. That is something I did not know!

I love visiting churches & I learned that one of my favorites are in the UK. Holy Trinity Church was stunning. It was like no other church I’ve been to. It is small but it holds Shakespeare & his family. I found myself walking outside in silence by the old graveyard & had a couple moments cherishing life. I was very fulfilled after this visit.

William Shakespeare’s last will & testament was wonderful to see. His handwriting was very beautiful. I wonder how long that paper will last & am impressed by how it is still preserved today.

“Good friend for Jesus’ sake forebear, To dig the dust enclosed here, Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones”.

This is what is carved into the stone over the grave of William Shakespeare. A verse to protect his final resting place is such a poetic way to curse someone if they move his body. I love Shakespeare 🕯️🤍.

Stratford-upon-Avon!!!!!! For those who don’t know, is the birthplace of the one and ONLY William Shakespeare! It was so cool to walk through a town with so much history. I made a lot of comments about how I have never been in a building this old in my life. Because, well, America is not that old. I hope that didn’t come as a surprise. But this town was definitely different from London. I mean, London is very modern feeling compared. Walking around Stratford, there are no skyscrapers. But there are in London. That’s a very big thing. Mainly just the size. But also, I learned my way around Stratford very quickly because it’s so small. I was able to guide my family around from just walking around for a day. So that’s pretty cool. It was neat to walk around Shakespear’s birth home. Just to know that he lived in that house and walked around the garden. It’s just pretty crazy to think about. And then visiting the house where his wife, Anne Hathaway, lived growing up. And no, not the modern day actress. Same name, different person. My dad got confused. I could definitely feel how Shakespeare got inspired to write just based on where he grew up. Right next to the river, and going to a school that taught him story telling through performance. I found that very cool. I had the opportunity to go into his school room. I learned that the school boys would put on performances of stories that had been passed down. A lot of them were comedies, and that’s where Shakespeare got his love for comedy from. So if he hadn’t gone to that school, we may never have heard of Shakespeare. 

We went to the Trinity Church to see where Shakespeare was buried. The church was beautiful. Even more so, the graveyard. One thing about me is that I love graveyards. I find them so beautiful and peaceful. Especially this one, with the old tombstones and all the trees and grass. And it was right by the river. It was breathtaking. I could have stayed there for hours reading a book or drawing pictures or even having a picnic. Shakespeare was buried inside the church. He was supposed to be buried in Westminster Abbey, but he insisted on being buried in his hometown. He even claimed that if anyone were to move him, they would have a curse set upon them. So was Shakespeare a wizard? Cause that would be pretty neat. 

Overall, I LOVED Stratford-upon-Avon. I felt like I could live there. It was the perfect size, and there was so much charm. I loved it so much, and I wish we stayed there longer. 

We were tasked with going to see a Fringe show. This means that it is not a part of the West End Theatre scene. I went to see An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. This was a modern adaptation production. I had bought tickets to be in the upper circle, kind of far back. They weren’t going to be good seats. But at the last minute, I got an upgrade!!! i got moved to the stalls and was fairly close to the stage. I was like great! This is going to be a good experience. Well. Not really. The lady beside me decided she needed to freshen her breath with a piece of gum for the entire show. Both acts. I unfortunately was very distracted by this, that I didn’t quite fully understand what the plot was. I thought that the set design was fun. It was cool how different set pieces were raise and lowered. There was this big curtain made of fringe. I found this funny because it was a fringe show with fringe. I had mixed feelings about this. I liked the movement it added to the stage. I thought it was really pretty and created contrast to the rest of the set. I did think it was funny that characters would enter and exit through this fringe, and it would catch on the characters costumes. So maybe it wasn’t a practical choice. It also appeared in two different rooms of this one house, and that confused me. They must really like fringe curtains for entering and exiting. I like the father character. He really acted with his body. He was a very exaggerated character, wich constrasted with everyone else. But he was great. I was not very impressed with the blocking. There was a moment where two characters were alone and talking with one another. The woman that was supposed to be intimidating the man would get up from her chair, walk to the other side of the stage, and then start to move towards him to create tension, and then she would sit down. And then she would get up again and do the exact same thing. 3 times I think. It completely lost it’s impact. I’m not sure if this was a directing thing or an acting choice. But it was the fault of both sides. And the male actor wanted to sit down so bad. I could see him wanting too, but not doing it. I wanted to scream at him to just sit down! Overall, It was an alright show. It was nothing compared to all of the other shows I saw on the West End of course. But it was pretty good. Just take away the lady smacking on gum, and it would have been much better. 

Stratford-Upon-Avon is such a stark difference from what I’ve become accustomed to in London. Rather than the tall, modern buildings and busy streets, Stratford is a small quiet town only famous because it was William Shakespeare’s hometown. It is also home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, who was putting on The Tempest with Kenneth Branagh during the time we were there. Unfortunately, tickets were sold out for this show months ago and we couldn’t get tickets. So we saw no shows in Stratford and were very sad. SIKE!!! Thatcher, Erin, and I got resale tickets with great views for £18 each (thank you, Thatcher). The Tempest was incredibly different from the other Shakespeare play we saw during our trip, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Globe Theater. While Midsummer was quite scaled down, with a bare set, simple costumes, and no extra effects; The Tempest relied on spectacle. With intense lighting, a turntable stage, and an actress strung up to the fly system the entire show, it was hard to believe it was written by the same man who wrote Midsummer. Though it was very cool to see two distinct interpretations of Shakespeare’s work, I think the Globe’s production was far stronger. I’ve spoken previously about the connection between actor and audience that was extremely present in both Shakespeare’s day and today at the Globe. This connection was almost nonexistent at The Tempest. This show felt absolutely separate from the audience and I think that’s because of its grandiose nature. Walking around Stratford, inside Shakespeare’s birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s cottage, you see how quaint his life was. Though his plays take place in locations far away from Stratford, it seems he wanted to bring these places to his home. Bring fairies, wizards, princes, queens, and Italians to the people who couldn’t experience anything of the sort in their real lives. For those five acts, though, they could be a part of the story, living alongside these characters. 

Also we saw a Friends-themed family-friendly wrestling show and it was so strange (thank you, Thatcher). 

Stratford-upon-Avon felt like an entire new world coming from London. It really did feel like going from New York to Arkansas. The whole trip was completely surreal; knowing that ole Will Shakespeare walked the halls we did literally gives me chills to think about. It is really something to think about when seeing the desk, chair, and room where we wrote some of the world’s most adored and admired literary works. Knowing that Shakespeare did not really know the world outside of Stratford, but he came up with these incredible stories, you really don’t realize how magical his brain was until you are there. Stratford was the perfect ending to this magical trip, a quiet goodbye and send-off from the best month ever. 

Clearly, I have waited until the very last second to publish this post, all because of the denial that this experience is really over. To say that this month has been the best month of my life would be describing this trip severely short. Seeing theatre almost every night (21 shows total!) is literally a dream come true. And to learn from London pros like Shawn and Susan, that is what made the trip so easy and fun. We are forever indebted to Shawn and Susan – thank you both times 100 billion!!!! What I will remember most, however, is spending every night in our flat, surrounded by the friends that love us for our weird selves. Major shoutout to Ohana fam, for loving one another, and for being open to meeting new people, going on adventures, getting tattoos, going on boat rides, creating not one, but two noise complaints (sorry Shawn), and so many more memories. The sights and shows were amazing, but the laughter and love we came home to in our sweet little 233 flat is what made this place feel like home. Thank you for all the memories; this is a month that will never be beat. I love this place with these people. 

Shawn, forgive me for the words I am about to write, but please respect my honesty. We could not make it to the second act. We went to see a show in Stratford-upon-Avon, and were excited about the fact that we were seeing community theater, theater that was not professional on the West End. And to see the theater where Shakespeare was born, so cool! However, this performance of The Lady in the Van was some of the most confusing, cringey, and some of the (trying to choose my words nicely) strangest acting I have seen. I, in no means, am trying to claim that I am a theater expert, because I am not. However, I have seen enough theater to know what choices I would have made and what I would not have made, and there were a lot of things I unfortunately disagreed with. Before we even saw the show, I was skeptical. The programs, which were tri-fold pamphlets with AI art on the front as their advertisements!!!!! I understand that theater has no money, and Stratford might not have the biggest platter of local artists to design their program, but AI was everywhere. AI was on the playbill, in bathrooms, even their set design (Yes Shawn, their set!) had AI on it. Strike one of this show being sus… The story was fine; it was a little annoying at times, but the script and story were fine. The acting, lord help the acting. I think this was what made this show so hard to watch. I am the biggest supporter of community theater and finding your place in the world, but it was very evident that the mom and all three sons were the ones acting. It was a family affair for sure. The lady (of the lady in the van) I thought was the showstopper here; everyone else was there. There were jokes that did not quite land because of the line delivery from the actor, and the overall lack of direction. The choices of transitioning with songs but not fade out was certainly a choice that I would not have made. The whole production felt very much like a junior play, a play from middle school that you did to have fun. And what can I say, that is the whole point of theater!

Arguably the most important factor of the trip: where to go to lunch. If anyone knows me at all, they know my next thought is where to get lunch, so experiencing so many different markets was a real treat with me. It was a difficult choice choosing which market to write about, but I think it is only right to write about the dumplings from Spitalfields Market. Non-arguably one of my favorite meals I have had on this trip, Spitalfields Market had so many ethnic food options, which are my favorite meals. Over the course of this trip, I was happily surprised to see that London has meals from every country; no matter where you are, you can always find Indian food, Italian food, Thai food, etc., and the markets were no different. After a few laps around the market trying to decide what to get, Erin and I decided to split a mac and cheese after craving it all day, and some cooked soup dumplings, and of course a Limonata Sanpelagrino to wash it down; probably my 20th one of the trip! I was majorly pumped to eat dumplings. After keeping Trader Joe’s in business because of how many soup dumplings I consume, I was stoked to try some from the Market. First of all, they were ready by the time I put my card back in my wallet after ordering. Second, they were the best dumplings ever. I truly believe that anything you got at the markets would have been amazing. What I really enjoyed about this market were the shops that were around. There were little vendors that you could support locally; then there were bigger named stores like LuluLemon and Anthropologie there also. It was fun to go in those stores, remember you have no money, then go to the little vendors to buy your things. We also had the difficult task of finding Erin a concert outfit to wear to Harry Styles, which was the perfect assignment for this market. One of my favorites for the street performers, shops, and food, Spitalfields, you haven’t seen the last of me! 

Oh my goodness, The Globe. Some of my most treasured memories made and favorite shows seen are thanks to The Globe. This is certainly one of the most surreal experiences about the trip. To literally experience theater (Shakespeare’s own theater for that matter) right where Shakespeare hosted it, with people of his time acting and viewing it, was so special. Seeing the layout of the stage versus backstage versus “pit” (although there really wasn’t one) made it really cool to envision people from the 1600s-1700s watching shows here, and putting myself in their everyday life. I was lucky enough to be right up next to the stage both times we went to see shows there, and that made the experience a hundred times better in my opinion. While sitting would have still been amazing, watching the shows from a groundling point of view made it a lot easier for me to envision that I was really a part of the world that Shakespeare lived in when The Globe was first active. We saw Mother Courage and Her Children at The Globe, and oh my goodness, what an unreal experience that was. I can one-hundred percent say that half the reason this show was so touching and heartbreaking was that we were right up on the stage. We got the privilege to touch the stage where these actors were, make eye contact with them, smell them, and the whole time, I felt extremely incorporated into the scene. I think we would have had a similar experience if this show was held in a little box theater like Equus was; we would still get a very intimate feel to these characters’ lives, but it being outside and variable, that is what made this show as moving as it was. The Globe, you were everything and more to be!

I will be the first to admit that I am not a natural museum girl by nature. I wish I found artifacts from hundreds of years ago precious and fascinating, and while sometimes that’s the case, most of the time it’s not. So, naturally, that means I find art museums to be right up my alley. I believe I could look at a piece of art for hours, being mesmerized by the detail, or color choices, or texture of art, so I was very excited to spend the morning at the National Portrait Gallery. I think pictures and photographs of people are often the most touching way to connect people with art; to see people in raw and real form is something that is very intimate and inspiring, and that’s exactly what the National Portrait Gallery offered to us. I really like this blog post prompt of choosing one portrait specifically to admire and study. As soon as we walked in, we walked along some of the featured portraits on the first floor, and I was immediately struck by a portrait of Anna Wintour, the newly retired editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Vogue. As a fashion girl myself, Anna had always been one of my idols and someone I look up to professionally and style-wise, and so seeing her in a huge portrait was incredible. However, I was so struck by this specific portrait, not because it was Anna, but how they depicted Anna. The portrait itself was extremely simple and lacked many impressive details. There is a plain yellow background, no details on her clothes (which is an interesting choice for the editor-in-chief of the biggest fashion magazine in the world), and the most surprising detail: we see her eyes. Anna Wintour is famously known for the huge black sunglasses she wears everywhere, and it is rare that we ever see her blue eyes. That is how most people know Anna and recognize that she is she, not some random lady with a bob. When I think of Anna, I think of those glasses being on her face, which is why it is so interesting that the artist chose to make a portrait without them. The sitter’s face and expression is spot on to how Anna is, simply, stern, direct, and a little intimidating, and I am happy to report that is what I felt when looking at this piece, There is not a lot of contrast in this piece, which again I find interesting because we know her as a bad-ass designer who loves contrast in everyday life, and the reason I could see the artist staying away from contrast is to give the viewers a different side to her. This piece very much looks like young Anna, real Anna, and an Anna no one really gets to see, and I am glad the artist made the choices they did to give us this work.