Well, I'm not even sure where to start because we've been busy little beavers the past few days. This morning started off with out final little adventure in the cute town of Bath. Bath was a beautiful town with lots of lovely shops and cool historical tokens. Today we were lucky enough to start off our day with a self-guided tour of the Roman Baths, which were absolutely breathtaking. Looking back on this morning, I should have taken notes because there was a heap of information on the Baths in our audio tour as well as in the displays that all seem a little bit hazy right now. The baths were constructed over an existing natural hot springs by the Romans, who conquered the area thousands of years ago. It was a place of recreation as well as celebration and religious activity. There were several bath areas, including a hot bath, a warm bath, a public bath, and what I like to think of as the Ancient Roman version of the Polar Plunge. Whatever the occasion, the baths had something to offer to just about everyone. The city even constructed a modern Bath down the road from the ancient site where people can spend time relaxing today. Here are some pictures of the wonderfully preserved Roman Baths! 
After we finished in Bath, the group headed over to Stratford Upon Avon, which is the birthplace of the infamous William Shakespeare. I must admit, this little town absolutely charmed my little self. Right away when we arrived we did a walking tour with a lovely woman named Anne. She told us that the little town of about 70,00 attracts roughly 3 million in visitors a year!! It was such a cute little town, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets during the tour. Plus, there is Shakespeare paraphernalia everywhere one looks, which absolutely rocked my socks off.
We got to see his birthplace and the house he grew up in:
We got to walk the streets he walked and hear about some of the inspiration for his plays. The picture below is of the alley way next to "the most haunted/oldest house in Stratford." It is said that a pub keeper at the end of the alley was the inspiration for one of his most memorable comedic characters:
We also got to see the gravesite of Shakespeare and his family members! They are buried within the Holy Trinity church, which means they were afforded a high honor since their grave plots are in such an important area. There is even a curse at the top of his grave that warns against anyone moving his bones: 
After the walking tour, we finally got to check into our hotel and get ready to see the play Jew of Malta by Marlowe. It was performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre, and was a vastly entertaining show. I thought it was really interesting to be able to see this play, since it is said to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, which we saw last week at the Globe Theatre in London. The differences and similarities were striking.
All in all, it was a lovely and busy day. I really enjoyed all the respect given to Shakespeare in the town of his birth. It pleases the English nerd within me!
Thank you for reading along, and I hope you all are enjoying keeping up with our busy group.
Jamie
I didn't know that Jew of Malta was Shakespeare's inspiration for Merchant of Venice. It makes so much sense! Ten minutes into the play I was having déjà vu. It was another play about a Jew being tortured by Christians and then the Christians need money from him and the audience eventually has mixed feelings about who's the good guy and the bad guy. But by the end the Jew in the Jew of Malta was definitely supposed to be the bad guy. I actually really enjoyed that play. The main actor was amazing!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun being able to go to the Roman Baths. At first I was concerned about what it might be but it ended up being really awesome. All the planning that went into building the huge complex was amazing. They had such a great flow and each room led into another room. I did the children's audio tour which was a lot of fun an very informative. It was also neat to drink the bath water from the tap. It was warm and very nutrient rich.
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