Our Little life is Rounded in a Sleep

Hmmm...I think this is about where Nottingham would be. Not sure, but this sculpture is pretty cool. The discarded cutout pieces are splayed on the ground behing it where I'm standing. Sweet idea. I have finally made my pilgrimmage to the hometown of Shakespeare, and now can say my life is complete with nothing more to hope for... well...actually the list of things to do in life is just too long to number, count or remember, but I can at least say that I have made it to Stratford on Avon in order to see some of the now dormant places where the great genius that is William Shakespeare, great poet and playwright of England, and probably the greatest writer the world has ever seen, resided and worked for some parts of his life.
I must be full of myself, but I always have to throw a random picture in that seems to have no bearing as to where my surroundings might be and of no importance to the actual trip. Either way, here's another to mark the beginning of our fourth month in such a wondrously new world.
I love Shakepeare's work, and spent all of last semester at Luther reading some 8-10 plays of his, and analyzing them like a mad fiend, and loving every second of it. Analyzing literature is what I love to do most, and is the whole reason I aspire to be a teacher. Not for writing, not to be able to be the center of attention for hours on end, nor to relive my high school days now long forgotten, but to be able to get excited and share my passion for great works and to try and get kids to love it too. Almost an impossible feat, but I look forward to those little breakthroughs that are bound to occur. Dang!! Just writing about teaching is getting me excited to get out there to see what I can do. but that will have to wait, and all the stress and anxiety that goes with it gladly.

I really loved Stratford on Avon. As far as the "urban" town comparison complete with cute little shops, with the randomnest things to see, and a big old antique mall (Oh Yeah, I was sure to spend some time there, again another dorky obsession looking at old postcards, stamps, and other dusty, old discarded items that are at times priceless at times, and time has made them unobtainable for a poor college student like myself.) This place wins the cake. Just so much to see and do. I also managed to find a really awesome used bookstore with Kate, and bought a few really good books for an amazingly cheap price. All reading material for those long rail rides through Europe which I will be experiencing in exactly one week! Hard to believe I will once again touch an even more foreign soil than what I find myself living in already. Better start learning Polish! Rambling, I heartily apologize.
Great festive atmosphere here too especially at night!

We spent these couple days meandering through the restored yet depressingly quiet buildings of all that is Shakespeare and even homes of those closest to him. Let's see, first it was his actual birthplace and the Shakespeare Center...

The Next morning we went to visit the childhood home of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife. A beautiful little place with some great gardens, including a grove of trees called something lame like the Shakepeare Orchard, and some scultptures and plants with different parts of his play quoted around them. Hard to explain really, but kinda cool for dorks like me... The rest of the day I kinda went off on my own to explore. Had a nice time walking along the river
This fine gentleman here is Falstaff. He just so happens to be my favorite Shakepearean Character, a man of excessive stature, girth, and an obnoxiously loud and jovial personality. He makes for a hilarious character and the brunt of many jokes from his fellow friends in the play Henry IV. Through his ridiculous traits and seemingly idiotic and unimportant rambling he often manages to say some pretty wise things under the veil of his foolery.
The theater is very interesting to behold both inside and out. I have not seen a theater in quite the set-up that this one was. We went to a show put on by the world's greatest players of Shakespeare, The Royal Shakespeare Company, on both friday and saturday night.
We saw the shows: A Winters Tale,a nd Pericles. Both were great performances set in some very interesting historical settings very different from Shakespeares intended time. One was set in the central conflicts in the African society during the middle of the 20th century. The other, Winters Tale, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays occurred in the 1940's through to late 70's or so. This night, Ryan and I didn't go back to our seats on the third floor, and craftily snuck our way into the theater below which was standing only, but all the people were part of the show. The actors would often move and rush around past us, and we were oftentimes a part of the celebrations of weddings and ceremonies, as well as the deep moments of unveiling near the end. Even managed to get fed some food they had on stage. It was some sort of sausage and tasted all right I guess. Can't expect much out of stage food when it is real.

Though it wasn't the last thing I saw, I figured it would be appropriate to mention visiting Shakespeare's grave last. Not a whole lot to see there really, though that may be appropriate. It was just that I was expecting some grand monument, basically a great tomb devoted to him, but instead it is a simple stone slab placed in the altar of Trinity Church. Nothing too extravagant, but at the same time, he has this whole town practically devoted to him, and theaters and resturants all over the world with his name smeared across their signs and windows. It is a respectable grave in the hometown of the man who has and will always continue to inspire writers and lovers of literature and will cease to amaze us.

This is a shop/store that sells...well...take a guess. Looks really sweet, creamy kinda, and in the form of a liquid.
It's actually a whole chain of stores that sell liquors of all kinds of crazy flavors. Kinda like a grown-ups candy shop, buying things by the shot, as if they were gumballs. We actually didn't try anything though, just sat with our shriveled wallets and gaped in awe at such a crazy concept.

I also need to include this amazing picture of my new family. This might be the first we've taken, or at least the first quality photo we've had with mom, dad and all the kids. Hard to do, but here 'tis!


Happy St. Nick's Day Folks!