I'm going to try to just do a quick post to catch everyone up before we leave for Scotland, but knowing me, it'll either end up longer than I planned or I'll ramble or both, so bear with me.
My dad's parents and two of his sisters got here last Saturday and we mostly did things around Stafford up until yesterday when we went to London for the 4th. Yes, I know, ironic. We took a slow train from Stafford to London around 8:30 in the morning at got to London in time for lunch. We originally planned to go eat at a restaurant called The Texas Embassy, which was going to be great for my Mexican food deprived family, but it was closed. As in out of business closed. Although we were really sad (especially my brother), my aunt suggested The Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't realize this until yesterday but The Hard Rock Cafe in London is the original, so it's pretty cool to say I've been to the original now :) I actually had nachos so I was able to get my "Mexican food" meal and we got to see some of the outfits that John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney wore (plus a ton of other antiques in the restaurant, the things that belonged to The Beatles being my favorite by far) so I looooved getting to go there. After lunch, we caught our bus for The Big Bus tour, the same tour we did with my mom's parents. We rode through Trafalgar Square and several other landmarks before getting off at Tower Bridge to take the river cruise. On the river cruise, we got to see Tower Bridge open! This only happens twice a day so I was pretty pumped to get to see that. After the cruise, we got off to take pictures in front of Big Ben and then caught another bus for our tour. We rode to Buckingham Palace and got off there to take pictures, went over to Harrod's for a little while, then took the tube to the train station to go back home.
Side note: I know at some point during the day, at the train station or tube station, someone saw Trey in his Auburn jacket and gave us a "War Eagle." I love my Auburn family. All In, All Over the World.
We took the fast train home and got back around 10:30 last night. I must have been exhausted because I slept from around 11:30 last night to noon this morning... ha.ha.
Today, we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon to see where Shakespeare lived. We got there around 2 this afternoon and went through a tour of Shakespeare's birthplace. It's funny to me because the town has set his house up as a museum in the middle of their town centre, which makes it look like his house was randomly in the middle of all these shops and restaurants. At least they didn't tear down the house...
They have a little tour set up before you go in the house so you can learn a little about Shakespeare's early life and career. I enjoyed getting a refresher on his biography since I don't really remember everything I've learned about him (sorry Mrs. Corona...). After going through the tour, you walk outside to this garden area outside the house and then you can walk through his house to see what the furniture was like and learn some more interesting facts. One of the things I enjoyed the most was watching the actors who performed Shakespeare's plays in the courtyard behind the house. They would act out a few scenes and then let the bystanders tell them which play they wanted to see. I was amazed at how quickly they could switch from one role to the next.
After we went through the house, we went to a couple of shops in the town centre, including a cute little Christmas shop where my family got a Christmas ornament and a precious Peter Rabbit store. Around 4:30, we all got a little snack. I had an apple tart and tea (I. am. SO. British.) and everyone else had ice cream or a piece of cake and coffee. After our snack, we went to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. We literally got there just in time because they closed the doors right after we left. whoops... :) The stained glass windows in the church were absolutely beautiful. It was a very neat experience to be in the church Shakespeare attended, was baptized, and buried. One of the goose bump, once-in-a-lifetime things.
We drove back home around 6, brought home fish & chips for dinner, and ate while finishing the first Harry Potter movie that we watched half of a few days ago. All in all, a quite lovely day :)
We leave for Scotland in the morning and come back on Tuesday, so I'll post all about that soon. :)
Grace and Peace.
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