Day 15 – York / Stratford upon Avon - Friday, January 17th 2014: Theodore Girgolas

We began our day by catching the bus to the Minster Cathedral where we were able to gain insight into Gothic architecture. We then left York and travelled for approximately two and a half hours to Stratford, the birthplace and now final resting place of William Shakespeare. Here we were able to see the house he grew up in and also the house his wife, Anne Hathaway was born in. Shakespeare was  the tender age of 18 when he married the cougar Anne Hathaway of 26, who was already expecting their first child. On ya Will!!!!

The small and intimate town of Stratford was really interesting and our guide in Hathaway’s cottage taught us quite a bit about life in the 1500s. I found the interior of the cottage to be very interesting and surreal in a way as it provided a real insight into the way people were forced to live. For example, originally, the house comprised only two rooms, sheltering twelve people with no room for a toilet! We often romanticise this era; however, the reality is that most people only bathed a few times a year and drenched themselves in fragrances to keep up the façade of bodily freshness. Having studied Shakespeare’s works and his life, our visit to this lovely countryside town was a very worthwhile experience and I feel privileged to have been able to gain extended knowledge into this specific period in time and about this great man.

We arrived in Bath late in the evening and will have a guided tour of the town tomorrow morning.

-       Theodore Girgolas (Old Scholar)