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Sheep, sheep, as far as the eye can see!
As soon as we got to Caernarfon (Wales), we noticed the obvious differences from the city. Most notably, we noticed all of the sheep, who grazed all of the fields. Then, we visited the castle of Caernarfon, which we promptly began to compare to the châteaux of the Loire Valley. Edward the First built all of the castles we saw, and Prince Charles was crowned as Prince of Wales here in 1969.
After that, we went to Conway Castle, but not until we had climbed the beautiful mountain of Snowden. Some of us attempted to get to the top, but sadly, it would have taken about four hours, even at a decent pace.
Lastly, we went to Bodnant Gardens, famous worldwide for their incredible expanse of flowers!
We got into Stratford, visted the cottage of Anne Hathaway, then went straight to the hotel to rest before the big night — Macbeth playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Our seats for the performance were amazing! Not one of us complained about the play... in fact, seeing the play in person gave us a greater appreciation for the work.
It was more than we could have hoped for, and afterward, we all discussed the costume period as well as the different ways the actors worked their characters. The most popular character with us, it seemed, was the Porter — "Knock, knock, knock!"
Until the morrow!
Today we went to Shakespeare's birthplace, and Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried. We had a great time exploring the town and learning more about this famous writer. We also got a quite interesting lecture on the clothing of the period from a nice gentleman in the boyhood home of Shakespeare.
Tomorrow, it's on the Oxford!!!
— Kathy Gardner |
