Day 9: 18 October 2009, Sunday
After the high of yesterday’s visit to Manchester, we had a much more relaxed day today. At about 9:20am, we set off from TH’s place in Coventry and made the short drive southwest to Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town famous for being the birthplace and final resting place of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
The town of Stratford is situated on the River Avon (hence its name), 146km northwest of London and about 32km from Coventry. We arrived at 10am, when it was still quiet on a Sunday morning. The town was charming, with plenty of brick houses and beautiful trees lining the streets. We took a slow stroll to the River Avon and checked out the places associated with Shakespeare, of which there were plenty.
We passed by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a grand, thousand-seat theatre dedicated to William Shakespeare. It was undergoing refurbishment at the time. We also passed by the Courtyard Theatre (now known as The Other Place), which is operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Clearly, the legacy of Shakespeare permeates the town and students of English literature will love it here.
We also went to the Holy Trinity Church, aka Shakespeare’s Church. This parish church was established over 1,000 years ago and it is Stratford’s oldest building. The Holy Trinity Church was where Shakespeare was baptised, where he worshipped and where he is buried.
We then went to New Place, where there once stood a large Tudor residence that Shakespeare purchased in 1597. After returning from London, he lived the rest of his life in here before passing away in 1616. The house was demolished in 1759. Only the foundations have been preserved.
Directly opposite New Place was the Guild Chapel, a 13th century chapel. We went in to take a quick look before exploring the rest of the town. Along Chapel Street and High Street were several buildings with timber frames and whitewashed walls. I distinctively remember these because they resembled the ones at Tudor Court in Singapore.
We then reached Henley Street, where Shakespeare’s Birthplace is located. The house where Shakespeare was born in 1564 has timber frames like the ones in Chapel and High Streets, but its walls were painted beige instead of white. Shakespeare’s Birthplace is now a museum and access is via the modern-looking Shakespeare Centre building to its right. We didn’t pay to enter because we weren’t huge fans of literature.
We wrapped up our visit of Stratford-upon-Avon around noon, then continued our drive to Oxford. The purpose of coming to Oxford was to meet my cousin YS, who was studying here at the time. Compared to Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford is much larger and bustling with commercial shops and huge crowds of people. The centre of Oxford is dominated by the University colleges. Over 9 million people visit Oxford each year.
At about 1:30pm, we met up with YS and had our lunch at a pub. I ordered an English breakfast set which came with two fat sausages and yummy bacon and it was superb. We had an enjoyable time catching up over lunch.
After that, YS brought us on a short tour of the city centre, where we saw some of the historic sites like the Carfax Tower and Radcliffe Camera building. We then went to Linacre College and visited YS’ hostel room. Her room was sparsely furnished with a single bed and a desk but it was cosy enough. YS made us coffee and we continued chatting. It was really nice to have a familiar face while overseas and to spend time catching up on life.
At about 4:15pm, we bade farewell to YS as we wanted to explore a bit more of Oxford. Being a Harry Potter fan, I was keen to check out some of the filming locations from the first movie in the series. We only got as far as Christ Church College but it was already past 4:30pm and many venues were about to close. Furthermore, we didn’t have Internet on our mobile phones back then so we couldn’t check where the other locations were.
After snapping a few shots of the Christ Church College building, we made our way back to TH’s car. We were also mindful of time because it was another two-hour drive to London and we didn’t want to get in too late. As such, it was a slightly unfulfilled trip to Oxford as we didn’t have time to explore all the sights. Hopefully, I can return one day and do a Harry Potter Tour!
