"What a piece of work is a man" - Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2Stratford upon Avon is the hometown of the Great Bard and Poet, better known as William Shakespeare. I visited this place on the 8th of March, in extremely difficult conditions. It was 4-5 degrees, the winds were blowing everyone's umbrellas inside out, and there was rain. However, nothing could take away the fact that the character of this town, more than any other, has been shaped by the life of one man, and for 500 years and counting, at that.
If you ever studied Shakespeare's plays growing up, you will realize that he was an uncommon literary genius, even for his time. What made it even more amazing was, he grew up in the house of a glovemaker, the 3rd of 8 children and the first son. I guess genius strikes randomly, like some kind of lottery.
Shakespeare's birthplace, a pilgrimage destination of sorts for literary figures since the 1600s. Half a million people visit this house every year. Charles Dickens visited this place, and scrawled his signature in its glass windows, which are now on display. I guess if you're famous enough, even your vandalized work becomes a treasure.
The doorway of the Shakespeare home, with the family badge. On first look it seems like a pen, but it is actually a spear. Shakespeare bought it for his father, and it was intended to be a pun on the family name - Spear/Speare. So punny.
A monument in the town square that was a gift from America to the town for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. Behind it is the Old Thatch Tavern, the only tavern in town that still has a thatch roof. It also serves a wicked fish and chips. We took refuge inside there later when it started hailing stones the size of marbles. The weather was that shit.
The wicked fish and chips. As you can see, its freaking huge. And it was really good too. For one, there's actually fish in there. As opposed to the flour heavy versions you usually get in Singapore.
In a literary town such as this, even the pavements are cultured.
This used to be a farmer's market, where people would gather every week to sell their produce. The road on the left is Sheep Street, and the one on the right used to be Pig Street, but is now called Ely Street. And the building now belongs to HSBC, which has a habit of buying over nice buildings and putting their banks in them.
Some of the charming Tudor style cottages found throughout the town. The second one is actually the former home of Shakespeare's granddaughter Elizabeth. It is now one of 5 Shakespeare related townhouses you can visit.
New Place, Shakespeare's last residence, now torn down and made into a garden courtyard.
The statues in the garden at New Place depict scenes from Shakespeare's plays. The last one here depicts a scene from Macbeth, and has some lines from the play on it. To tell you the truth, it just looks like a gnarled pile of stone to me, even after I scrutinized it closely.
The River Avon, from which the town got part of its name.
Vivian Leigh, the actress from the movie "Gone with the Wind" visited this town once.
Our tour guide giving us a talk inside the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. She was a most formidable woman, seemingly impervious to cold and fully dedicated to her duty, even when all the people she was taking around were bent over double trying to keep warm. She led us around for a full 2 hours.
The grave of William Shakespeare.
The inside of some of the townhouses, which give a glimpse of life in the 16th century. Of course they look a lot better now then they actually did then, or no one would visit.
Hall Croft has an awesomely gorgeous garden. If you could visit only 2 places here, the first one should be Shakespeare's birthplace, and the other, this.
The garden and the house. One of the very few shots I took of myself that day because the weather before that was so shit I didn't even want to pose for pictures. Well, I guess you could smile, but I think people can tell when its frozen on your face? Haha.
It was nice that when I finally left Stratford upon Avon, this was the picture of the town I saw.