Shakespeare was a constant theme throughout our trip whether we liked it or not.




Our favorite Shakespeare spot, without a doubt, was the Globe Theatre. This picture was taken just across from the theatre at a fancy little restaurant called The Swan. We usually love showing off what we eat at places but this happened to be our last day of having any money for the next few days. All we had was a tomato an onion salad.





Yea, that is totally Gossamer on the Globe Theatre stage. He was allowed on it. His faithful human best friend who feeds and takes care of him, was not. (*sigh*)



There was no way we could continue on without at least seeing one play at the famous theatre! We were lucky enough to see an AMAZING showing of Macbeth. It was seriously the best version we had ever seen. The groundling area (the cheapest tickets where you stand throughout the play) was covered in a weird, black rubber thing. The audience members could poke their heads out of the black thingy as they watched the play. They just had to be careful of the witches and random dead bodies poking them.




Some time later we had a bit of fun being escorted out of a tube station by some fireman. This is basically what happens when a "Mysterious Package" is delivered.




It is no secret museums are not our favorite places to visit. On one our class tours, we had to visit the Tate Modern. This picture shows Gossamer at his favorite spot at the museum: outside the museum. We separated from the main group and hid on the balcony for a while. We eventually had to go back inside and that's where we discovered a wonderful new game!




We had just passed a sculpture that literally looked like poo and noticed the scene above from a window. Gossamer wanted to pose in front of the window, but we couldn't get a decent shot. Instead, he asked me just to take a picture of all the people having fun outside. As I was doing this, Gossamer noticed something strange: people were staring at us. Not just us though, they were trying to see what we were taking pictures of. We pretended not to notice and continued taking tons of photos of the outside. A nice little group started forming behind us. When we finished we walked away mumbling, "Amazing... I can't believe I got the shot." People went to the window, unsure of what had just happened.



We had to post SOME pictures of food. We are not exactly sure what this is or where we got but we do remember it was very yummy. We downed the whole plate and wanted seconds.



On one of our days off, we took a trip to Canary Wharf. It was pretty quiet since it was Sunday, but still a nice trip. We went to some parks, got lost, picked a random destination on the tube station, got lost, found some more parks, and went back through Canary Wharf.



At the end of the day we wanted to see Big Ben at night and explore the area.



Our biggest regret was not remembering the name of where we got this cupcake. We are huge cupcake fans. It was just a basic red velvet cupcake with cream cheese buttercream frosting and it was amazing.



On our last day we had a few major stops. The first was The Crypt. I thought it would be a creepy, grotesque cafe. It was actually very pretty and looked just like the cafe in several museums we visited. I did not care how it looked though because we bought some delicious strawberries with whipped cream and some tea. It was pretty awesome. The second was Buckingham Palace. We didn't get to really see it the first time and wanted to get a good look. It is actually really pretty up close than trying to sneak a peak from a distance.

We also went to the National Portrait Gallery. We do not have any photos because we managed to escape from that tour. We were looking up information on the Blind Traveler, James Holman while we waited. We couldn't find the drawing we wanted so I asked for help. Long story short, a lady helped us set up a meeting with a man who could take us into the National Portrait Gallery Archives. He showed us the original drawings and pictures of James Holman and gave me information I needed to get into other places. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use that information until I go back to London.



For our last meal of the trip, we went to the King's Cross station and did some people watching! (It's like bird watching... but with people). We meant to show a picture of our chocolate croissant before we ate it but forgot... We remembered right before we finished it! Just for the record, it was very tasty.




Two and half weeks had passed and it was time to go home. The trip was over. We said our Goodbyes and made the voyage back home to Texas.

Our trip led us to Startford-Upon-Avon for a few days. The train ride there was roughly an hour long.



We were beyond surprised how wonderful it was. It was such a change from the hustle of London. It was a bit odd that there was not that much excitement anywhere. It was just so quiet. We actually were able to sleep!! No 2am drunk singers here!

Anyways, after some strolling, we did make some good friends. First, we meet some nice Swans.




There was also a giant bear. He dreams of being a Shakespearean actor someday. For now, he guards a toy store.




We spent most of our nights at the Courtyard Theatre. First to see Cleopatra & Anthony and then to see Morte d'Arthur.



The major theme of this little trip was definitely Shakespeare! Considering it's his hometown, we can see why. Here's even a picture of Lil' Gossy in front of Shakespeare's home.



There was also a weird, little museum that we had to explore. It was cheesy.




We couldn't help but laugh at all the "information". We'll give you a few examples of something of the comments we kept hearing.

"And here, we have a ring that probably belonged to William Shakespeare."

"In this display is a book he may have read. This is not the actual copy, but one from the school we believe he went to."

"None of this was around in Shakespeare's time. This was later added on in-"

So yea, we got a kick out of it but for all the wrong reasons. Oh, they also had pictures of famous people who performed in any of Shakespeare's play. A Shakespeare museum is not complete unless there are pictures of hunky heart throbs there to show you how really cool it all actually is. *dreamy sigh* Oh Leo...




Outside of the Shakespeare-ness, the town is beautiful! We were surrounded by parks, gardens, and cute little houses!




The food was decent. You just have to take a chance and order something random. We forgot what this thing was called, but it was pretty good!



We LOVE street performers. We had got to watch some folks perform random scenes from Shakespeare's plays by request. On the creepier side of performers, we saw living statues!



Along the way we managed to complete a life goal we did not expect to do on this trip: Help in an Archeology dig! There is a site where some famous house used to be at. For the past few months, people have been digging up the area. Shakespeare does have a connection with the site along with other notable people... whose names we have forgotten.



It really is a silly and random goal to accomplish! We are still giddy they let us help out. Sorry, no pictures of that though. We were having too much fun getting our hands dirty!

Overall, Strarford-Upon-Avaon was a wonderful little town to visit. A sweet break from London but enough quirkiness to keep you entertained!

We've been back in the United States for a good couple of weeks now... and already miss London. We had so much fun but did not get to see everything we wanted. It was a Study Abroad class so our options were a bit limiting. Here are some highlights though:

We had a bit of a money problem half way through our trip. Basically, we had money, just no way of accessing it. All we had for about a week was just the cash we had on is... which was not a lot. We discovered that margherita pizzas were amazingly cheap and pretty filling. Oh... and so yummy!



Advice: Have at least two money back-up plans in case the first one fails... Trust me.

Anyways, did we mention the food we had was amazing?



We later found The Sherlock Holmes. It's a pub. Literary nerdiness and drinking all combined into one. We were in love!



While at the British Museum, Gossamer was misbehaving so I tried feeding him to one of the stone cats.



For the first week, there were elephants EVERYWHERE. We just realized Gossamer did not take a picture with any. I think he was scared they might come to life and trample him. A totally reasonable fear.



We tried to go to Hogwarts. We couldn't get through because we're monsters and muggles. Someday we'll make it... Someday...



Here's a man. He's in a cow suit.



We got to go inside a Beetle House. Gossamer felt right at home!



Yea... more Sherlock Holmes stops. We couldn't help ourselves.



Then we decided to literally stop and smell the roses.


While at the London Zoo, we made friends with a goat and family of Meerkats.




The Number One thing we learned about London: They have a REALLY bad history with fire. Seriously. This picture is Gossamer in front of the monument dedicated to the Great Fire of 1666. I think maybe a total of 2 places we visited were not burned down at one point or another...



To finish off for the day, we give you this:





A Baby Tardis! If you don't know how insanely awesome that is, then we feel really bad for you.

We'll have at least two other post soon. One more about London and one about Stratford-Upon-Avon. Stay tuned and Toodle-Loo!

We really want to update more but we leave the dorms early and get back late. Our schedule is INSANE! Our feet have never known such pain. We are having a fantastic time though! Here's just a little update of what's been going on.





The plane rides were not as bad as we thought they were going to be. The first one was only 45 minutes. The second one was roughly 8 to 9 hours long. Sleeping on the plane is highly recommended, unfortunately, it's not really comfortable. It didn't help there was only a total of 4 hours of darkness outside. We did manage a few minutes of sleep. Considering the gorgeous view we had, the lack of sleep did not bother us at all:



We haven't had a lot of time since getting here in London. Everyday is a new tour or play. So far we have seen Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre and Sucker Punch at the Royal Court Theatre. Our tours have taken us all over the place.



We've decided if we moved here, we'll just invest more into our bicycle. It seems easier than walking everywhere. Anyways, since we are taking tours, we mostly see tourist focused sights like:

Buckingham Palace (Which was crowded like hell!)-


The Tower of London (Also quite crowded)-


And of course Big Ben (Crowded plus crazy traffic)-


All the sights were wonderful of all, but it was so insane! People were running everywhere, tourist trying to get the perfects shots (us included), and it was just so busy, busy, busy, busy!

What was our favorite part then? This:



Just relaxing at Hyde Park. We just finished another tour and we were exhausted. We found some shade and just let the stress go. We didn't have to run anywhere to be on time, not too many loud noises, and not a lot of rushing. It was peaceful and we could really just take in what we have accomplished in the last few days. Of course that ended when we had to quickly make it to the Royal Court theatre to see Sucker Punch.

The food is so fantastic as well! For a treat for ourselves we stopped at The Orangery, which is a bit expensive. We just got a lemonade and a gorgeous Meringue with raspberries.



We are seriously drooling just thinking about it.

So that's it for today! We're exhausted and plan to sleep well.

Good Night!

Links
- All our pictures so far
- Royal Court Theatre
- National Theatre
- The Orangery