I just got back from a three day class trip to Stratford-on-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace) with side trips to a few castles and Oxford University. It was cool, but Stratford cracked me up--we know so little about Shakespeare and his house as an adult was burned to the ground by a later owner who was sick of tourists interrupting his privacy, so everywhere we went the guides were like, "We're here in a Tudor house. About 20% of it is actually from the Tudor period. Now, Shakespeare didn't live here or touch anything here or really have anything to do with this place, but he MIGHT have talked to the owner and eaten here and this place shows up in Scene 2 of Act 3 of one of his lesser known plays. If you read the subtext. Maybe." It got a little ridiculous (I felt they were grasping at straws) but it was kind of cool, and I got some random Shakespearean and non shakespearean facts along the way.
My favorite part was, hands down, the Windmill pub. Three words: sticky toffee pudding. Three more words: extremely attractive bartender. For real! He was highly amused at our Americanness (AKA we couldn't understand a word he said and we went through 2 bottles of ketchup), and recommended the sticky toffee pudding which is basically a moist, dense cake swimming in molten custard and the whole thing is divine--Lyndi and I all but licked the plate.
You know you're in Stratford when the boats are all named for Shakespeare's leading ladies.
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