The day started off with our earliest wakeup, my room waking up at 6:30 am to meet in the lobby by 7:25 am. We scarfed down our eggs, cereal, and pastries before heading to the hotel lobby. Some people grabbed their daily energy drink or coffee, and then we were headed out to the bus. We took a two hour bus ride to Warwick, where we visited the Warwick Castle and learned about the history of the landmark. We had some time to walk around the grounds, take a look at a medieval jail cell, and walk around an exhibition depicting daily life in medieval times before taking our official tour of the castle. A lot of us headed up one of the towers without knowing how many steps were required on the ascent and descent, which had many of us very winded, but the view from the top was very worth it.
We then took a tour for half an hour , learning about the previous Earls of Warwick and how the castle was finally acquired by the company, Madame Tussaud’s. Next, we headed over to watch a bird show called “Birds of Prey” on the outside of the castle before eating our lunch at the Conservatory Cafe. The cafe was outside of a peacock garden, and Dan Lukatsky was chased by some very aggressive peacocks.
After lunch, we got back on the bus to drive about 20 minutes to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We started at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, where we got an explanation of the historical events from the house before walking through it. We got back on the bus to drive a couple minutes to Shakespeare’s Birthplace, which had a museum along with a tour of the house which we all walked through. After Shakespeare’s Birthplace, we were able to walk over to Shakespeare’s New Place, the house that he bought after gaining wealth from the success of his plays. The house was destroyed and no longer exists, so we instead walked through the garden and then got a visual demonstration of how the house looked throughout history.
Next, we had an hour to ourselves to walk the streets of Stratford before our dinner reservation. We got some bubble tea, traditional British candy, and tried to visit a cat cafe before finding out there was an entry fee and we didn’t have enough time. We then all met at dinner at a pub called “The Golden Bee” where most of us got burgers, chicken, or fish and chips.
Finally, we walked less than a block to the Swan Theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to see their production of “Edward II” by Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe, being one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, wrote in a style of English similar to him, but the production was so well done that we were able to still stay very engaged and understand. The general consensus was that this production was incredibly well done, everyone loved it. It was technically beautiful, the set design was super cool, and the acting was phenomenal. We got back on the bus to rave a bit more about the production and ventured on another two hour bus ride back to London.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about another day in London!
All the best,
Rebekah Kochman
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