gland. Stratford is the birthplace and hometown of the fantastic William Shakespeare. The first stop of the tour was to the former home of Shakespeare's wife, 
Anne Hathaway. I must admit, when I first heard we were going to Ms. Hathaway's house I began to dream about the movie the Princess Diaries. Thankfully, my friend quickly shared with me that this was not the same Anne Hathaway and I was saved from embarrassment. :) After arriving at the darling little house, I walked through the outside garden first. Flowers are a really big deal here in England and I think it is because it is the perfect growing climate. Roses, Calla Lilies and many other brightly colored flowers grow all over the country. The garden at the Hathaway ho
use was truly beautiful as you can see in the images provided. I could have spent hours in the garden enjoying the flowers, but there was a cute cottage to see so I pressed on. The house that I toured was mostly a recreation of the house that Anne Hathaway lived in. Two of the rooms in the house, the kitchen and the living room were original, but the other first floor rooms along with the entire second floor were added on later. Even though the house had several rooms it was still quite small. The ceilings and especially the door frames were quite low making it difficult for a tall people, like myself, to walk through the house. I got past the ceiling height and fell in love with the quaintness and charm of the h
ouse. 
As I made my way through the house it began to remind me of a house that would be in Snow White. With such a whimsical feel to it, I really enjoyed the darling little place. After visiting the house we continued to where Shakespeare was born and raised. While in the town, I had lunch visited a few shops and enjoyed a delicious ice cream cone. Because we were a bit strapped for time and I was still not feeling well, we decided not to go on any of the Shakespeare tours. I did however, see Shakespeare's house and I have a photo of it to share with you. It really was a fun little town and I cannot wait to go back in a few months and take th
e tours. After Stratford, we headed to Warwick Castle which is pronounced "War-ick". Having already visited Windsor Castle, I wasn't sure how Warwick could possib
le measure up to the place of royalty. As I walked up to the castle, I realized that Warwick was in fact quite different than Windsor. The castle was built around a large center grass courtyard, that is now filled with attractions for children. The castle itself makes a large circle with walkways along the very top allowing visitors to look out over the beautiful English countryside. As I made my way around the castle grounds I was slightly disappointed how much this beautiful and historic castle had been turned into such a tourist attraction. Even more than that, I was disappointed to see that the castle had become a slightly cheesy playground for children. With my complain
ts aside, I did find several things at Warwick that I enjoyed. I climbed more than 500 steps to reach the top of the castle walls. The trip to the top was dark and narrow spiral staircase. When I reached the top I could not believe my eyes. It seemed as though I could see for miles and it was absolutely beautiful. After walking around the top of the castle, I headed to a different part of the castle to see a trebuchet (tre-buu-shay) launch. This large medieval piece of equipment was used in ancient times as a means of launching things like fire and other canon ball type items. Today the trebuchet launched a fire ball. It was quite interesting to watch the build up of the machine and the fantastic launch. Since returning from my long day I have had a rather relaxing evening. I enjoy nothing more than staying home and putting my feet up after a long day playing in England. :) Cheers!AM
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