Shakespeare Disneyland

On October 4th we took a group day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born and spent a lot of his life. This place is more tourist-y than anything I have seen so far, it's a little bit ridiculous! All day I felt like I was walking around Disneyland for Shakespeare lovers...more on that later. So, the first place we went was Mary Arden's Farm. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mom and this is the farm where she grew up. The funny thing was that none of us had ever really heard of her so we were like, "sweet...Mary Arden...who's that?" So this picture is of us being super excited about coming to this random farm.

Despite my slightly cynical attitude, the farm was pretty cool. There were goats and pigs and geese, and a beautiful garden, and it was such a beautiful day that it would have been difficult not to enjoy this place.

This is one of the main attractions at the Mary Arden Farm, "Watch the Tudors Eat." And that is exactly what we did! We all crammed into this little room and watched these guys eat lunch while they had authentic Tudor conversations. The food looked surprisingly good but the conversation left something to be desired.

They had a whole bunch of falcons and owls in one section of the farm and they actually let some of the girls hold and feed the falcons. I was watching the Tudors eat at the time so I didn't get to hold the giant bird. I was a little disappointed but I saw this sign tucked away in a corner and it made me smile. I just thought it was so funny. Falconry...superb indeed.

This was a funny moment. We found this huge plaster cow that had a little udder and a bucket so you could actually milk it. It looked highly unsanitary but I finally worked up the courage to do it and I had just barely applied pressure to the nasty little rubber thing when all of this gross water sprayed out everywhere! It was quite a shock.

Isn't this the creepiest mannequin you have ever seen? I loved how they gave her such a manic smile as she is holding a scarily realistic dead chicken in her lap. Such an odd combination. Her head also looked like it was about to fall off her body.

Another weird looking mannequin. This little guy had a broken neck, probably due to some rude American tourist. I hope someday the Mary Arden Farm will be able to afford some less creepy props.

One of my favorite things about these places is looking around in the gift shops. There are always some interesting looking, but highly overpriced books that I am always tempted to buy. YOu ahve your typical Christmas tree ornaments, shot glasses, and thimbles. But on occasion you find something like cookies in the shape of Shakespeare's head! Alex said it tasted good and claims that it was worth the 3 pounds, but I think it would be a little unsettling to eat flesh colored frosting.

The next stop was the cottage where Ann Hathaway grew up. Notice the thatched roof and all of the beautiful flowers, this place was so gorgeous! Someday I am coming back to England in the spring or summer just so that I can see all of the gardens in full bloom.

A cool little Willow hut...I don't know what the purpose of this is. They had a ghetto little cd player inside that played readings of Shakespeare's love sonnets. Kind of cheesy, but it was fun because I felt like I was in a fort and I got to sit on the little bench for a little bit and enjoy some quiet time after an overcrowded tour of the cottage. Here is a little background on Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway for you: they both grew up in Stratford, "courted," and then when he was 18 and she was 26...yes, that age difference was abnormal for the time, she got pregnant and they got married.

This is the place. Shakespeare's birthplace for real. It was cool...I was a little "Shakespeared out," as Alex Fahey would say. It was just a lot of Shakespeare all in one day.

But then I found the most incredible Chrismas store of my life. The walls were covered in ornaments, Christmas music was playing, there were Christmas trees everywhere, it smelled like Christmas...I was so excited. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed the Christmas store a little more than the Shakespeare stuff. But there you go, honesty is the best policy right?

Give a gnome a home! I had to take a picture with this. But I just want to clarify, I am not planning on being a crazy lady with a garden full of gnomes. I just plan on having one, maybe two tastefully placed little guys. It will be subtle, no fishing poles or ponds or anything. So I am not obsessed, I just think gnomes are cool ok?

Trinity Church is where Shakespeare is buried. It was half covered in scaffolding but my artsy photographic skills in this picture hid the construction pretty well, if I do say so myself. It was kind of cold and windy, but I was in a Christmas-y mood so the cold weather suited me just fine.

I was a little disappointed to find that the scaffolding and construction was in full force inside the church, but there was an orchestra rehearsing for a Vivaldi concert inside so that made it more than ok. We had tickets to see "A Winters Tale" for the Shakespeare class later that night, otherwise I would have attended the concert. Sitting in the church and listening to the music was definitely a highlight of my day. I played the violin for 5 or 6 years when I was younger, and I played in a community orchestra for quite awhile. I haven't played for years but hearing those violinists and watching the musicians all work together to create such beautiful music was really inspiring to me. I plan on starting up with the violin again once I get back to BYU...although I don't think I will ever be as good as these guys were.

In the back of the church they had this big memorial to Shakespeare. Everyone wanted his bones to be moved to Poets Corner but he had a curse inscribed over his tomb that pretty much ensured that his remains would stay put.

"Good friend for Jesus sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here!

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones."

Westminster Abbey and MJ

On Friday, October 2 we went to Westminster Abbey! At this point we have been to a few abbeys but this one was definitely one of my favorites. Although it was built in 960 AD by Benedictine monks, it really became important in the 13th century. Around this time the abbey was set apart as the burial place for the celebrities of the time...monks, saints, kings, queens, and other significant people. However, its main function is as a place of worship and that is still true today.

Inside the abbey there are a few little chapels for different saints, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, etc. I thought that was really cool, and they are all very ornately decorated with individual features in each one. Since it has been a famous burial place since the 13th century there are a TON of monuments, tombs, plaques, memorials...it's crazy. There are huge sections of the floor that are completely made up of tombstones inscribed with names and dates that are barely legible since they have been walked over so many times. There were a lot of interesting little things that I learned about Westminster (you gotta love those long-winded audio tours), but my favorite thing by far was Poets Corner!!!!!

I downloaded this picture off the internet...unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. This is a small section Poets Corner. But before I talk about that let me show you something cool. See those two arches on the right side of the picture? Can you tell that there are pictures painted on the wall behind them? Those aren't just pictures my friends, they are religious medieval murals. Isn't that awesome??? Some guy uncovered them in 1936 when they took a couple of memorials down for cleaning and you can still see all the colors. We tend to think of medieval, gothic, and classical architecture and art in terms of the old stone, marble, and muted colors that it possesses today, but in it's time these places were vividly painted in bright colors. Murals, mosaics, and other surviving art hint at those color schemes...I wish I could have seen these places in their prime. They must have been incredible!

Ok, so Poets Corner. The excitement that I felt in this place really gives away the true extent of my nerdiness, but at this point I've just got to embrace it. This is the section of Westminster where significant literary figures, and some composers are either buried or memorialized. There are a bunch of names carved into the floor, lots of statues, busts, plaques, memorials...I probably could have spent a good hour just looking at all the people represented here. They're all there: Handel, Wordsworth, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Keats, Byron, Shakespeare, Milton, Longfellow, Percy Shelley, Tennyson, Dickens, Chaucer...and so many more. It was awesome.

After our tour in the abbey we had to hurry over to the National Gallery to meet with the Humanities class to look at some art. Isn't it awesome that we get to have a class period in the National Gallery? We have been studying this art for a few weeks and then we get to just hop on the Tube and see it all in person. I love this place! Anyways, we couldn't resist this photo op...I thought this was a pretty good, standard London picture.

This guy outside the National Gallery was the perfect conclusion to a great day out. He had headphones in, so I'm not quite sure what he was dancing to, but I'm pretty sure it was Michael Jackson (judging from his moonwalk and Jackson 5 t-shirt). I wish I could upload the video, this guy was rocking out, sweating up a storm, and totally in the zone...it was absolutely hilarious!! We watched him for a good 5 or 10 minutes but I was too scared to put money in his hat. He kept kicking his legs up right next to it and since his eyes were closed there was a very real possibility of getting kicked in the head.