Skip to main content

Pleasure and action make the hours seem short - William Shakespeare, 'Othello' :)

'Amazing' doesn't even begin to describe the two days we spent at Stratford Upon Avon :)

On 22nd April, we caught the afternoon train to Stratford Upon Avon (or SAV, the short code in the train timetables). As the train approached SAV, from three stations earlier, each station had Shakespeare's pictures. SAV station is itself quite small and plain looking.




Nearly all roads in the central area of SAV have old homes converted into shops and eateries and other business establishments. Everywhere there are traffic islands with lots of flowers. The central area is always bustling with tourists.








We walked to our hotel which was about 15 minutes away from the station. It was a lovely hotel that was built by acquiring a couple of old Tudor style homes, keeping the exteriors as they were in the olden days and converting the common space  between the homes into a green courtyard and converting the interiors into modern hotel rooms. We had a nice room and our window was exactly opposite Nash's House.



But the most fun thing about the room was this ! ;)




We reached our hotel at about 6 p.m. and we had a bit of time to freshen up and go here... 



for this... 



We quickly left the hotel room so that we could roam around a bit before the play. And we met him 




surrounded by four of his characters...

Prince Hal

Falstaff

Hamlet

Lady Macbeth


Then we walked on to a very old bridge on River Avon. The view was beautiful.



But we had to hurry so that we would be in time for the play. They had asked us not to click pictures when actors were on stage so here are some clicked before and after the performance.








When we made the bookings online, we felt that the auditorium would be quite large and our seats would be far away from the stage. It felt very impersonal and remote. But when we entered the auditorium, we were so pleasantly surprised ! It was a compact auditorium. Even from the seats in the upper stall you could have a reasonably good view of the stage. Our seats were the best ! Although they were in row G, they were quite close to the stage. Also, they were the only two seats in that row between two aisles. So it was like having private seats. Weren't we lucky ? :) The entire setting was like that of an intimate theatre. The stage wasn't all that small but appeared to be so. A part of it near the backdrop was a revolving stage. The large columns were very well used in the performance alternatively as columns in a palace and trees in the Forest of Arden. The performance itself was extremely energetic and wonderful. And even if it weren't, I'm sure we wouldn't have minded it one bit since it was a beautiful experience for us to watch Shakespeare's play in the RSC in such an auditorium in such exclusive seats. The actors were all amazing. The play lasted for about 3 hours including the interval and it was one of the most wonderful experiences we've had :)

The next day we had planned to visit V & A, our friend AB's friend's parents who lived in SAV. We were interested in meeting them because V is a Shakespearean scholar and we'd get some insights. I was a bit hesitant since it was a remote connection...parents of our AB's friend who we hadn't met at all ! Also, they were British and my impression was that the British are very formal. AB had assured me that they are a fun couple and would be happy to meet us and we'd love them. So I called V & A a couple of days earlier to see if they would be available to meet us. The response that I got overwhelmed me ! Not only would they love to meet us, they said, they would love it if we were to go to their home for lunch and that V would pick us up ! The tone of the visit was set then and there on that telephone call. 

V was supposed to pick us up at 1. So we had all morning to walk around the place, visit a couple of places and go to the RSC where he would pick us up.

So we went to the river side first. There, many people were feeding the swans and ducks. TH wanted to photograph the swans. He stood a couple of hundred metres away from where all the swans were being fed by people. So this swan saw him and slyly broke away from the group and started swimming swiftly towards TH...



When he reached TH he looked up at the camera, realised it wasn't food and mid-path made a U-turn and swam back :)





We then went to Shakespeare's birthplace and took the mandatory 'We were here' photographs for other tourists who reciprocated the gesture for us :)



Then we wandered off to the back street to see the other side of his birth home. Beautiful flowers were in bloom. We also saw this bust that seemed to be Rabindranath Tagore's...and on researching on the Internet it was confirmed that it is indeed him ! Read more here








After this visit we went to this famous shop called The Nutcracker right opposite Shakespeare's birthplace. This shop sells Christmas stuff all year round. They have a variety of Christmas ornaments and other stuff related to Christmas. At the entry they have a slate on which they count down the days remaining until Christmas. That day the slate read '236 sleeps until Christmas' :)





Then we walked to the central area and to RSC where V was going to pick us up. Spring is here and there are so many pretty flowers all around that you can't just walk past without glancing at them.







Exactly at 1 V arrived and met us with such warmth that we were quickly comfortable with him. His home is about 5 minutes driving distance away from the RSC. It is a beautiful and large house. It is very tastefully done up but not at all opulent. Simple and stated. When we reached home A gave us tight hugs as if we knew each other from before. Both of them were so welcoming, open, friendly and warm that TH and I instantly fell in love with this couple who are even older than our parents. Lunch was ready and we were immediately ushered into their large kitchen cum dining room that has large French doors leading to a patio that in turn extends into their huge garden. Conversation began instantaneously and carried on smoothly through delicious English lunch that was consumed with white wine and continued through desert followed by two rounds of tea. Before we realised it was 4:30 and we had to catch our return train at 5:20. So V & A enthusiastically and quickly gave us a tour of their lovely home and garden. The house has wonderful skylights in all the upstairs rooms. The garden is sprawling and has flowers and trees of many varieties.



They also dropped us off to the station, but not without a 2-minute stop at Anne Hathaway's Cottage to take quick pictures. 




We have an invitation to visit again and we extended to them an invitation to visit us and watch our plays and stay with us. TH and I are so pleased to have met such wonderful and nice people.

On the train back to Rubgy, TH and I couldn't stop smiling :)

Comments

Seema Smile said…
I notice there's hardly anyone on the streets in these pictures. Imagine the crowds if this were India :)
The Wanderer said…
Oh yes ! That's the most amazing thing here...it was the most 'crowded' on the street where Shakespeare's birthplace is located...and that 'crowd' was about 50 people on the whole street !

Popular posts from this blog

How NOT to compère a function

Recently I attended an awards ceremony. It was a grand function with a huge audience in attendance. Many awards were given and some speeches too. The compère was, unintentionally, terribly funny ! In this function, when the compère announced the first award winner, he announced, “Please welcome on stage Mr. X (pause) married to (pause) wife Mrs. X (pause) from 1977 and successfully (pause) completed 32 years of (pause) married life…” I had tears in my eyes from laughing too hard :D Later, the same compère, while telling the audiences about a certain award winner, said, “…he is married (pause) to wife Mrs. Z (pause) and enjoys playing with his (pause) children K and M. His favourite (pause) holiday destination is (pause) the beaches (pronounced as ‘bitches’) of (pause) Goa” I nearly died choking with laughter for this one ! In the 45 minutes that he was on stage he was responsible for much hilarity due to his totally inappropriate commentary. I, of course, laughed my guts out and what c

‘Geographically challenged’

I laughed my guts out while reading this . Then I had another bout of laughter thinking of all the incidents that happen with me. For a long time now I have known that I am, what I like to call, ‘geographically challenged’ :) Situation 1 - If I go inside a building (happens mostly with residential buildings), then after I exit the lift (elevator) or come down the stairs, I cannot quickly locate the gate ! Situation 2 - If I am inside a building, I will routinely point in wrong directions to indicate places outside the building. Situation 3 - I am presently at office. I have come here from home. Now I have to go to some place where I have always gone from home and never from office. What do I do ? I go home first and from there I go to that place. It doesn’t matter if it is a longer distance or takes more time. I have to do this, because simply have no mechanism to re-align my mental map to my present location ! Situation 4 - Another thing is that if I have come to your place in

Love in the rains :)

Heart shaped ditch on a construction site next to our office building ! Closer view of the 'heart' ! You can find love in the most unusual places ! :)