Stratford-upon-Avon

A couple of Friday's ago, I sacked off a lecture. Don't worry, the professor puts the notes online. We're allowed to miss up to 3 lectures.I wasn't really interested in going to lecture as I'm not even going to write over what she was going to be speaking about. So, I decided it was worth missing this lecture.

I went down to Stratford upon Avon with my friend Victoria. We had planned a trip for reading week, the week where we didn't have class, but those plans had fallen through for sundry reasons. We went down to Stratford on a day trip. It didn't cost much. Just £4.10. We met up at New Street station, walked over to Moor street station which is very vintage and took the train out to Stratford.

The architecture there was much different than Birmingham. There were no tall structures at all. Every building looked like it had been there for well, for several hundreds of years. Lots of thatched roofs.

Everything in this town was Shakespeare this and Shakespeare that. It was great to be there for a day but I could not imagine myself living there.

Before we did any major sightseeing and meandering around, we went to a pub. I opted for a gamon with two eggs on top of it. I also had a true ale whilst there. Hobgoblin. It was pretty good. It's a true ale because the bar maid actually had to pump it out. It wasn't an electric pump. The gamon was a little salty but I didn't mind.

After lunch we walked around. Went to Shakespeare's birthplace. We didn't go inside, just because to merely go in was a tad outrageous just to see a small building. Eleven pounds was not exactly what I had in mind.

We also found a tobacconist and I purchased a Cuban cigar because, well, because here I can. It was a good cigar.

After walking around some more I spotted a sign pointed the direction to Anne Hathaway's cottage. The sign made it look like it was around the corner. A mile or so later it began to rain. We had passed that marker of, we've gotten this far. We're seeing the damn thing. Once there, we checked out the gift shop as a way to get out of the rain. We requested a taxi to pick us up and take us to the station.

I also bought myself a Shakespeare bust for my desk. I like it. It's a bit unnecessary I realize but still, it will be a way to remember the day.

Once we got back on the train to go home, which we caught in the nick of time there was an incident on the train. A young man, about a year younger than I, hadn't purchased a ticket which is a big "No no." It cost him a £20 fine. He off course went off complaining about it, that they were just stealing money from him etc. etc. even though it was obviously his fault. His friends took the piss out of him for this because they had all bought tickets. So, it wasn't that he was in a hurry but that he was just stupid.

That night, Victoria and I went to Nando's. It's a Portuguese chicken place. We split a combo meal consisting of chips, two grilled corn on the cobs and a full medium spiced chicken. That was a tasty tasty meal and reasonably priced. We also had bottomless soft drinks which is a rarity in the UK. They don't have free refills unless it's an American corporation which came in and doesn't realize that they don't have to offer that.

After that, we hung out at her place. Watched the drunken absurdity of her roommates getting ready for a night on the town and then I went home.

It was a pretty long but good day.