Shakespeare's Birthplace

Yep.  I shouldn’t have said anything about traffic.  We paid for it today, apparently everyone was coming home from holiday and decided to jam up the M25.  The electronic road signs noted, “M25 Congestion, Junctions 2 though 30.”  Bascially the entire thing.

Anyway, I wish that I could say that today was a thrilling adventure.  It was a good day, the weather beautiful and the sights interesting.  But we spent a long time on the coach, then a short walk through Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon (along with hordes of other people), a little shopping around town, then back on the coach to Warwick Castle. Warwick is a real castle, but it’s been taken over by an entertainment company, and things are now a bit contrived (a bit?  Nah, a lot).  Straight from modern tourism–pay to park, pay to get in, and pay more for the “interesting” exhibits.  No thanks.  I even got asked today, “Why do we come here?”

The show at Warwick Castle

Don’t get the wrong impression, we had a good day–the students enjoyed the touring and the town, but it was a lot of coach ride and waiting in the queue for not a lot of return.