STRATFORD UPON AVON

Wednesday, March 5th, 1997 Stratford Upon Avon

Did breakfast about 8:30 AM and then packed the car. Patti walked to the jewelry shop to find a back for her earring…remember Chester. As we were leaving, Barbara brought the chamber maid out with some of Randy’s clothes that they’d left in a drawer. Good thing we were slow in leaving.

Before leaving town we drove over to the Model Village which is a re-creation of the town. It was a four year project to create and is about 40 years old now. Patti arrived at the Model Village. She’d gone to the jewelry store. When she put her earrings on the black velvet in the strong light she found that she’d put both backs on the same earring. But she had a great time visiting with the jeweler who talked and talked and talked. Explained about some of the crown jewels we’d seen in the tower of London. The stones were not what they thought they were it seems when they made some of the crowns. Then she found a child’s wax jacket to buy for one of her relatives.

On the road we made our way north towards Stratford Upon Avon. We stopped first at Broadway and walked through the town. Except for me, who stayed in the van to work on selecting a hotel for Saturday night (my turn now). Then on to Chippen Campden where we had a fish & chip lunch at The Kings Arms Hotel. It took a while to find a suitable place…many were smoky and one had a terrible noise outside the building from street construction which affected Randy’s ear more so than usual due to the cold.

But the final selection was very good. It was actually one of the first places that we looked at but the smoke had cleared in one of the rooms. We were also very hungry by this time! We sat at a table with a very unusual bench. Big enough for three people with a curved high back. The day was spent going through lots of very quaint towns with Cotswold Stone Cottages, many of them with thatched roofs.

We arrived in Stratford Upon Avon and found The Dukes Hotel where we have reservations for tonight. After settling in (there were several room changes before we were all happy…the hotel has a very high ratings in the book…chosen by Randy and Patti) the first thing we did was send e-mails and then went to pick up our tickets to a play for tonight. We are going to the Swan Theater to see a play by Tennessee Williams called Camino Real.

Then we split up and did some shopping. Returning to the hotel, Randy, Patti and Barbara had a light supper in the hotel. I made reservations for Reading on Saturday night. Barbara suggested why not just go directly into London and check in early at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza at Heathrow. We called. Yes, we can come in a day early. Canceled the Reading reservation. Nice to know we’ve only got two more hotels for the trip!

Barbara stayed home to do her e-mail letters and wash her hair. The rest of us walked over to the theater and saw the play. It was very long…three and half hours….with two intermissions. The play was written in 1953 and has not been performed very often. It is rather startling at times. But it was great to see a play in this particular theater in this town; the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

It rained while we were in the theater, but had stopped for the walk home. Stopped by the clock shop where we plan to go tomorrow to see what type of bargains we can pick up as it is going out of business. We also plan to take another open bus tour of this area in the morning. When we arrived home, I helped Barbara send her e-mails. First we had to go back in and redo the address for Brian that she’d accidentally erased. This was her first solo typing and she did really well except for that minor problems which was resolvable. Well, must close we’re off to Bath tomorrow after the bus tour.