On the Move - Stratford-on-Avon
I've decided that my illness must be the Wandering Flu. It started in my
chest that last morning in Italy, spent last week in my head and has now
moved into my stomach. I am hoping this is its last stop and that I will
experience a complete return to health in the next week.
Wednesday night was our last night in the same city with Leah for a while.
I came up with a plan to fit the theme "Farewell to London...from Your
American Friends." Nathan, Jason & I met Leah at Holborn for the London
Walks' "Ghosts, Gaslight & Guinness" tour. Our guide showed us around the
area from Lincoln's Inn Square to Covent Garden, telling us stories of the
various ghosts reportedly seen in the area. His style was a bit overly
melodramatic for our taste, but he had some interesting tales.
Done with that, we walked into Trafalgar Square and tried the Texas Embassy
Cantina. It's in the building that served Texas as its London embassy
during its brief period of nationhood. We had hoped Barbara would join us,
but she overnapped. We had some of their interesting drinks and good
nachos. I tried their yummy tortilla soup and a burger. It started off as
one of the best burgers I've had in England, but halfway through it no
longer seemed like food. That was the beginning of the "stomach" portion of
this flu.
It was really great to see Leah one more time. It's been awesome to be in
the same place again for a while, especially since classes ended and we've
had time to spend together. She's off to Thailand this weekend.
On Thursday we left the house just after two, leaving Nathan to enjoy our
flat for another night before heading off to Barcelona. After annoying
delays on the Bakerloo line, we picked up our car (a silver Mercedes
A-Class) at easyrentacar near the Edgeware Road tube station and headed out
of town. Traffic was moving very fast--I'm somewhat surprised at what speed
demons these Brits are--and we made it to Stratford-upon-Avon in just about
two hours. We found our b&b, the Avonlea, and dropped off our luggage.
Leaving our car there, we walked around the corner and over the footbridge
to the main part of town.
On the river at that point there's a nature reserve with more swans in it
than I've ever seen together at one time before. There must have been fifty
or more in sight. There were also a bunch of Canadian geese (I wonder if
they call them "Norwegian geese" here) and a variety of ducks.
We picked an Italian restaurant for dinner and had a fairly authentic meal:
bruschetta and a plate of very good mixed meats, followed by a steak for
Jason and lasagne for me.
Then we walked over to the Swan Theatre, next to the main RSC theatre. It
was built in the 80's to mimic a Shakespearean era theater, eliminating the
groundling's area and creating a thrust stage. The play was _King John_,
one of the least-performed works in the canon. The program suggested that
this is because its moral message is somewhat unclear. Besides the king,
the main character is the Bastard Falconbridge, played by Jo Stone-Fewings.
He reminded us both of a young Kevin Kline and produced a really masterful
performance. We both hope to see him again. The play was strong, overall,
and very interesting, dealing mainly with the invasion of England by the
Dauphin in 1216.
My stomach rejected dinner again, so in the morning I stuck with toast &
tea, while Jason had a full English breakfast. We had planned to head out
for a day of touristing in the area, but I was feeling sufficiently poorly
to go back to sleep until noon. When we finally emerged, we went up to
Warwick Castle, about ten miles away, and spent the afternoon exploring
there. It's a wonderful mix of medieval castle, state rooms and a 19th
century stately home, all set in beautiful grounds. The Earls of Warwick
were powerful players for hundreds of years and their castle reflects as
much. It was sold to the Tussaud Group in 1978 and they've done a lot with
the place, including some very effective waxworks that really help to show
how the rooms were used during the various periods.
Back at the b&b, I had another nap while Jason got Thai take-out for
supper. He rousted me from bed and we rushed over to see _Hamlet_ on the
main stage. The title character was played by Samuel West, whose portrayal
of Richard II we very much enjoyed in April. His Hamlet was, if anything,
even better. The production was very spare and modern and was the best
of the four or five productions I've seen. The director really managed to
give it the energy of a new play and kept it moving so well that it didn't
seem long at four hours (with two intervals). There were a few
flaws--Ophelia was great when interacting, but weak in her monologues, and
Claudius didn't impress either of us--but overall it was so strong that we
came away in awe.
On Saturday we had planned to see the three Shakespeare-related houses in
town during the morning, but again went back to bed after breakfast. I was
feeling somewhat better, so we grabbed lunch before starting our theatrical
day. The matinee was _Love in a Wood_ by William Wycherly, an early
Restoration comedy, with the usual mistaken identities, plots and scams
leading to hijinks that are resolved in the last scene. The language was
certainly different from that of Shakespeare and quite funny at times, but
neither of us have much patience with farce. The production, in the Swan
Theatre, was strong, but no one really stood out.
Dinner at the Boxtree Restaurant in the main theatre building was part of
the package with our tickets and accommodations, so we went ahead and ate
it. I started with a small serving of tagliatelle pasta in a tomato basil
sauce, while Jason had a tasty mushroom soup. His main course was very
thinly sliced beef served on a sizzling plate of olive oil, while I had the
delicious rack of lamb. Both came with potatoes, cauliflower, sweet potato
mash and green beans. For desssert I had the lemon parfait with mango
coulis, while Jason stuck with the creme brulee. A cup of coffee to wake us
up for the show and we were all set.
Our last show was _Julius Caesar_, sadly the weakest of the weekend's
productions. They had cut the script to one two-hour act, which I felt
rendered it so bare as to lose all of the interesting themes of the play.
Caesar failed to arouse any sympathy and Mark Anthony came off like a
snivelling trickster. Brutus turned in a nice performance, except for one
glaring failure of comprehension in his oration to the Roman people. (The
repeated line is "If any speak for him I have offended" and if "speak" is
not an exhortation, then the word "for" makes no sense. Since it's the
refrain of that section of that key speech, it really weakened the
character.) Of course, the RSC's par is so high that even a sub-par
production is well worth watching and since neither of us had seen the play
performed, we were glad to have the opportunity.
Once again we thought we would spend Sunday morning seeing the houses in
Stratford associated with the Bard, but we both woke up with a desire to be
home, so we will hope to make it back next year and see the sights more
thoroughly then. We were on the road by ten and took our host's suggestion
of taking a back road down to Oxford and catching the M40 there. This was a
lovely drive, enhanced by dramatic lighting of bright sun through dark
cloud, making us feel like we were driving through the set of some
Masterpiece Theatre production.
We dropped off the car and made it back to our flat before 1pm. After
checking through our email we watched the season premiere of _Buffy the
Vampire Slayer_. My stomach was feeling much better, so we ordered pizza,
but that was too much for it in its weakened state. I took a long nap and
talked to Beckie and Tom and then we watched the second episode of
_Enterprise_, the new Star Trek series. I talked to Gilly and checked out
the news on the US attacks on Afghanistan before heading to bed. steve
called just as I was waking up this morning, so we finally had a chance to
catch up. My stomach is feeling much better today and I have some hopes
that taking it easy for the rest of the week will leave me all better for
the next adventure.
I'm off to Ireland on Saturday to meet up with Linda Marie, while Jason goes
to Seattle for a week with his family and then the fall meeting of the C++
committee. Beckie will be arriving to keep me company for the second week.
chest that last morning in Italy, spent last week in my head and has now
moved into my stomach. I am hoping this is its last stop and that I will
experience a complete return to health in the next week.
Wednesday night was our last night in the same city with Leah for a while.
I came up with a plan to fit the theme "Farewell to London...from Your
American Friends." Nathan, Jason & I met Leah at Holborn for the London
Walks' "Ghosts, Gaslight & Guinness" tour. Our guide showed us around the
area from Lincoln's Inn Square to Covent Garden, telling us stories of the
various ghosts reportedly seen in the area. His style was a bit overly
melodramatic for our taste, but he had some interesting tales.
Done with that, we walked into Trafalgar Square and tried the Texas Embassy
Cantina. It's in the building that served Texas as its London embassy
during its brief period of nationhood. We had hoped Barbara would join us,
but she overnapped. We had some of their interesting drinks and good
nachos. I tried their yummy tortilla soup and a burger. It started off as
one of the best burgers I've had in England, but halfway through it no
longer seemed like food. That was the beginning of the "stomach" portion of
this flu.
It was really great to see Leah one more time. It's been awesome to be in
the same place again for a while, especially since classes ended and we've
had time to spend together. She's off to Thailand this weekend.
On Thursday we left the house just after two, leaving Nathan to enjoy our
flat for another night before heading off to Barcelona. After annoying
delays on the Bakerloo line, we picked up our car (a silver Mercedes
A-Class) at easyrentacar near the Edgeware Road tube station and headed out
of town. Traffic was moving very fast--I'm somewhat surprised at what speed
demons these Brits are--and we made it to Stratford-upon-Avon in just about
two hours. We found our b&b, the Avonlea, and dropped off our luggage.
Leaving our car there, we walked around the corner and over the footbridge
to the main part of town.
On the river at that point there's a nature reserve with more swans in it
than I've ever seen together at one time before. There must have been fifty
or more in sight. There were also a bunch of Canadian geese (I wonder if
they call them "Norwegian geese" here) and a variety of ducks.
We picked an Italian restaurant for dinner and had a fairly authentic meal:
bruschetta and a plate of very good mixed meats, followed by a steak for
Jason and lasagne for me.
Then we walked over to the Swan Theatre, next to the main RSC theatre. It
was built in the 80's to mimic a Shakespearean era theater, eliminating the
groundling's area and creating a thrust stage. The play was _King John_,
one of the least-performed works in the canon. The program suggested that
this is because its moral message is somewhat unclear. Besides the king,
the main character is the Bastard Falconbridge, played by Jo Stone-Fewings.
He reminded us both of a young Kevin Kline and produced a really masterful
performance. We both hope to see him again. The play was strong, overall,
and very interesting, dealing mainly with the invasion of England by the
Dauphin in 1216.
My stomach rejected dinner again, so in the morning I stuck with toast &
tea, while Jason had a full English breakfast. We had planned to head out
for a day of touristing in the area, but I was feeling sufficiently poorly
to go back to sleep until noon. When we finally emerged, we went up to
Warwick Castle, about ten miles away, and spent the afternoon exploring
there. It's a wonderful mix of medieval castle, state rooms and a 19th
century stately home, all set in beautiful grounds. The Earls of Warwick
were powerful players for hundreds of years and their castle reflects as
much. It was sold to the Tussaud Group in 1978 and they've done a lot with
the place, including some very effective waxworks that really help to show
how the rooms were used during the various periods.
Back at the b&b, I had another nap while Jason got Thai take-out for
supper. He rousted me from bed and we rushed over to see _Hamlet_ on the
main stage. The title character was played by Samuel West, whose portrayal
of Richard II we very much enjoyed in April. His Hamlet was, if anything,
even better. The production was very spare and modern and was the best
of the four or five productions I've seen. The director really managed to
give it the energy of a new play and kept it moving so well that it didn't
seem long at four hours (with two intervals). There were a few
flaws--Ophelia was great when interacting, but weak in her monologues, and
Claudius didn't impress either of us--but overall it was so strong that we
came away in awe.
On Saturday we had planned to see the three Shakespeare-related houses in
town during the morning, but again went back to bed after breakfast. I was
feeling somewhat better, so we grabbed lunch before starting our theatrical
day. The matinee was _Love in a Wood_ by William Wycherly, an early
Restoration comedy, with the usual mistaken identities, plots and scams
leading to hijinks that are resolved in the last scene. The language was
certainly different from that of Shakespeare and quite funny at times, but
neither of us have much patience with farce. The production, in the Swan
Theatre, was strong, but no one really stood out.
Dinner at the Boxtree Restaurant in the main theatre building was part of
the package with our tickets and accommodations, so we went ahead and ate
it. I started with a small serving of tagliatelle pasta in a tomato basil
sauce, while Jason had a tasty mushroom soup. His main course was very
thinly sliced beef served on a sizzling plate of olive oil, while I had the
delicious rack of lamb. Both came with potatoes, cauliflower, sweet potato
mash and green beans. For desssert I had the lemon parfait with mango
coulis, while Jason stuck with the creme brulee. A cup of coffee to wake us
up for the show and we were all set.
Our last show was _Julius Caesar_, sadly the weakest of the weekend's
productions. They had cut the script to one two-hour act, which I felt
rendered it so bare as to lose all of the interesting themes of the play.
Caesar failed to arouse any sympathy and Mark Anthony came off like a
snivelling trickster. Brutus turned in a nice performance, except for one
glaring failure of comprehension in his oration to the Roman people. (The
repeated line is "If any speak for him I have offended" and if "speak" is
not an exhortation, then the word "for" makes no sense. Since it's the
refrain of that section of that key speech, it really weakened the
character.) Of course, the RSC's par is so high that even a sub-par
production is well worth watching and since neither of us had seen the play
performed, we were glad to have the opportunity.
Once again we thought we would spend Sunday morning seeing the houses in
Stratford associated with the Bard, but we both woke up with a desire to be
home, so we will hope to make it back next year and see the sights more
thoroughly then. We were on the road by ten and took our host's suggestion
of taking a back road down to Oxford and catching the M40 there. This was a
lovely drive, enhanced by dramatic lighting of bright sun through dark
cloud, making us feel like we were driving through the set of some
Masterpiece Theatre production.
We dropped off the car and made it back to our flat before 1pm. After
checking through our email we watched the season premiere of _Buffy the
Vampire Slayer_. My stomach was feeling much better, so we ordered pizza,
but that was too much for it in its weakened state. I took a long nap and
talked to Beckie and Tom and then we watched the second episode of
_Enterprise_, the new Star Trek series. I talked to Gilly and checked out
the news on the US attacks on Afghanistan before heading to bed. steve
called just as I was waking up this morning, so we finally had a chance to
catch up. My stomach is feeling much better today and I have some hopes
that taking it easy for the rest of the week will leave me all better for
the next adventure.
I'm off to Ireland on Saturday to meet up with Linda Marie, while Jason goes
to Seattle for a week with his family and then the fall meeting of the C++
committee. Beckie will be arriving to keep me company for the second week.