Base City: Oxford, England

Accommodations: The River Hotel, Botley Road

Transportation: Great Western Railway and Chiltern Railways (1.25 hours)

June 17, 2017: Stratford-upon-Avon, England

Stratford-upon-Avon was another easy ride by train from Oxford, and it was by far one of my favorite cities we visited. While I was studying at Oxford, Shakespeare was my research emphasis, and I've always had a liking for the bard, so the city in which he spent his childhood and adolescence, as well as where he raised a family, was a must-see. 

Like Boston's Freedom Trail, Stratford-upon-Avon is very much designed to be accessible for tourists. I'd printed a walking map of important historical sites before we left, and with that in hand, we headed from the train station to the first point of interest: the American Fountain, a gift to the town from a millionaire from Philadelphia.

Then, we spied a market, which was filled with people dressed in inexplicably strange costumes, and visited a quirky magic shop. Our next stop was Shakespeare's Birthplace in order to pick up our tickets. Stratford-upon-Avon has five main sites of historical Shakespearean interest: the Birthplace, New Place, Hall's Croft, Mary Arden's House, and Anne Hathaway's Cottage. You would have to be very regimented and wake up very early to do all of them in one day, so we opted for the three-house ticket for about $30 each. 

Shakespeare's Birthplace is connected to the visitor's center via a museum. The museum is filled with all kinds of treasures, from a copy of the First Folio, to the few documents we have that give us glimpses into Shakespeare's financial life. A short film played clips of Shakespeare's plays as performed on stage and in film, a dramatic reminder of the impact he's had on modern life. The house itself is a beautiful property, and we learned that Shakespeare's father was a glover, selling his wares directly through a window that overlooks the street—but he also made his money through illegal moneylending and being a local civic figure. 

For lunch, we went across Henley Street to a restaurant aptly-named Food of Love for a cheap tuna melt panini, then kept on trucking. Clopton Bridge was our next stop, where we unknowingly stumbled upon a competitive rowing competition (sorry, we don't have stuff like that in the South). We also saw the Gower Memorial here, comprised of huge statues dedicated to some of Shakespeare's most famous characters: Lady Macbeth, Prince Hal, Falstaff, and Hamlet. 

No time to stop and watch the rowers: we had to move right along to New Place, or Nash's House. This was the site of the huge house that Shakespeare bought for his retirement, where he later died in 1616. The house was demolished by an angry resident in 1759, but in its place are gorgeous gardens and statues, along with metal rails along the ground where the walls of Shakespeare's home once stood. 

From there, we walked along the historic path, past fascinating examples of Elizabethan and Victorian architecture, until we reached an abbey where medieval wall paintings had recently been uncovered. 

It was then that we realized that the Anne Hathaway Cottage, the third house we wanted to visit and the last punch on our ticket that we'd already paid for, closed at 5 p.m. It was 4:30 p.m. And one mile of walking stood between us and the cottage.

That was the fastest speed walking I've ever done. By the end, we were a sweaty mess, but we made it by 4:50, ten minutes before the last entry and forty minutes before it closed. It was just enough time to take an official tour of the cottage, including seeing the original doorway where Shakespeare would have picked up Anne Hathaway on their wedding day and learning that Anne had been three months pregnant when they got married (which was apparently okay as long as you married before the baby was born). 

After we took the train back to Oxford, we went to dinner at the Bookbinder's Ale House, a unique French pub in a residential part of Oxford. We had the pleasure of sitting next to two very drunk men, one of whom almost started crying because his hiccups wouldn't go away. I wish I'd ordered something else, as the salad I tried was composed of things that, separately, are great (poached eggs, curly lettuce, bacon, new potatoes, and honey mustard), but together, was just wrong. 

That night, we took our time at the pub, then gave ourselves a lengthy night to call people back home, as the next morning we could sleep in a little longer for our travel-free day in Oxford.

If you missed the previous installments of my trip to Boston, MA; Brighton, England; or Bath, England, go here.